Devices and methods for three-dimensional printing

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for the formation of three-dimensional objects. A method for forming a three-dimensional object may comprise alternately and sequentially applying a stream comprising a binding substance to an area of a layer of powder material in a powder bed, and generating at least one perimeter of the three-dimensional object in the area. The stream may be applied in accordance with a model design of the three-dimensional object. The at least one perimeter may generated in accordance with the model design

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/668,618, filed on Aug. 3, 2017, which is a continuationapplication of PCT/US2017/045173, filed on Aug. 2, 2017, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/370,644,filed Aug. 3, 2016, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/446,291, filed Jan. 13, 2017, and U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/484,059, filed Apr. 11, 2017, each of which applications isentirely incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

This invention was made with government support under grant no. 1646942awarded by the National Science Foundation. The government has certainrights in the invention.

BACKGROUND

Three-dimensional printing (3D printing) is a process for makingthree-dimensional objects of various shapes. The three-dimensionalobjects may be formed based on a model design, where the model design isformed via a computer, a drawing, or another object.

Different materials may be used in three-dimensional printing, includingmetals, metal alloys, polymers, paper, and ceramics. Three-dimensionalprinting may efficiently form objects in may be difficult to make viatraditional methods. Layers of a material may be laid adjacent to oneanother until the entire three-dimensional object is formed inaccordance to the model design.

SUMMARY

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a surface comprisinga powder bed comprising powder material; (b) applying a first bindingsubstance to a first area of a first layer of powder material of thepowder bed; (c) heating a first subsection of the first area, whereinthe first subsection is generated from a model design of thethree-dimensional object; (d) depositing a second layer of powdermaterial adjacent to the first layer of powder material in thecontainer; (e) applying a second binding substance to a second area ofthe second layer of powder material; and (f) heating a second subsectionof the second area, wherein the second subsection is generated from themodel design of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, atleast a portion of the second layer binds to the first layer. In someembodiments, the method further comprises repeating (d)-(f) at least 10times. In some embodiments, the method further comprises repeating(d)-(f) at least 100 times. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises repeating (d)-(f) at least 200 times. In some embodiments, themethod further comprises a first curing of the three-dimensional objectat a temperature of at least 70° C. for at least 10 minutes.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises a first curing of thethree-dimensional object at a temperature of at least 250° C. for atleast 10 minutes. In some embodiments, the powder material comprises apolymer, a metal, a metal alloy, a ceramic, or any combination thereof.In some embodiments, the powder material comprises stainless steelpowder, bronze powder, bronze alloy powder, gold powder, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, the powder material comprisesparticles of 0.2 micrometers to 100 micrometers in size. In someembodiments, the powder material comprises particles of 0.5 micrometersto 2 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the first layer of powdermaterial has a thickness of at least 0.1 millimeters. In someembodiments, the first layer of powder material has a thickness of atleast 0.2 millimeters. In some embodiments, the first layer of powdermaterial has a thickness of 0.1 millimeters to 100 millimeters.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises dispersing unboundedpowder material from bounded powder material formed from the powder bed.In some embodiments, the dispersing is via removal of unbounded powdermaterial from the container. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises a second curing of the three-dimensional object at atemperature of at least 500° C. for at least 5 minutes. In someembodiments, the second curing is at a temperature of at least 1000° C.for at least 5 minutes. In some embodiments, the second curing is at atemperature of at least 1000° C. for at least 24 hours. In someembodiments, the second curing comprises infusion of a metal or metalalloy. In some embodiments, the second curing comprises infusion of abronze powder, a bronze alloy, a gold powder, or any combinationthereof.

In some embodiments, the first binding substance and the second bindingsubstance are the same binding substance. In some embodiments, thebinding substance is a liquid. In some embodiments, the bindingsubstance has a viscosity of less than 500 cP. In some embodiments, theheating of the first subsection of the first area is with the aid of asource of electromagnetic radiation or a resistive heating element. Insome embodiments, the source of electromagnetic radiation is at leastone laser. In some embodiments, the first subsection of the first areais less than 99% of the first area. In some embodiments, the firstsubsection of the first area is less than 90% of the first area. In someembodiments, the applying of the binding substance is via an inkjethead, an atomizing sprayer, or a nebulizer. In some embodiments, theinkjet head, atomizing spray nozzle, or nebulizer has a greatest orificedimension of 10 to 1000 microns in size. In some embodiments, the inkjethead, sprayer, or nebulizer has a greatest orifice dimension of 10 to500 microns in size. In some embodiments, the binding substance has adroplet size of 0.1 micrometers to 100 micrometers when applied to thefirst area of the first layer of powder material. In some embodiments,the binding substance has a droplet size of 1 micrometer to 10micrometers when applied to the first area of the first layer of powdermaterial.

In some embodiments, the three-dimensional object is formed in a timeperiod of less than 1 week. In some embodiments, the three-dimensionalobject is formed in a time period of less than 3 days. In someembodiments, the three-dimensional object is formed in a time period ofless than 36 hours. In some embodiments, the three-dimensional objecthas dimensions of less than 10 m by 10 m by 10 m. In some embodiments,the three-dimensional object has dimensions of less than 1 m by 1 m by 1m. In some embodiments, the three-dimensional object has dimensions ofless than 0.5 m by 0.5 m by 0.5 m. In some embodiments, the model designcomprises at least 10 parallel cross-sections of the three-dimensionalobject. In some embodiments, the model design comprises at least 100parallel cross-sections of the three-dimensional object. In someembodiments, wherein upon applying the second binding substance to thesecond area, the second binding substrate extends through the secondlayer to the first layer. In some embodiments, the heating in (c) or (f)comprises sintering individual particles of the powder material. In someembodiments, the d heating in (c) or (f) is in the absence of sinteringindividual particles of the powder material. In some embodiments,wherein in (b), the first binding substrate is applied to at most thefirst area. In some embodiments, wherein in (e), the second bindingsubstrate is applied to at most the second area.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forminga three-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a surfacecomprising a powder bed comprising powder material; (b) applying a firstbinding substance to a first area of a first layer of powder material ofthe powder bed, wherein upon application of the first binding substance,a first perimeter of the first area deviates from at least acorresponding portion of the model design of the three-dimensionalobject; (c) heating a first subsection of the first area of the firstlayer of powder material; (d) depositing a second layer of powdermaterial adjacent to the first layer of powder material in thecontainer; (e) applying a second binding substance to a second area ofthe second layer of powder material, wherein upon application of thesecond binding substance, a second perimeter of the second area deviatesfrom at least a corresponding portion of the model design of thethree-dimensional object; and (f) heating a second subsection of thesecond area of the second layer of powder material.

In some embodiments, the first area is larger than the model design ofthe first layer of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments,the first area is at least 1% larger than the model design of the firstlayer of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the firstarea is at least 20% larger than the model design of the first layer ofthe three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, a portion of thesecond layer binds to the first layer. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises repeating (e)-(g) at least 10 times. In someembodiments, the method further comprises repeating (e)-(g) at least 100times. In some embodiments, the method further comprises a first curingof the three-dimensional object at a temperature of at least 70° C. forat least 10 minutes. In some embodiments, the method further comprises afirst curing of the three-dimensional object at a temperature of atleast 250° C. for at least 20 minutes.

In some embodiments, the powder material comprises a polymer, a metal, ametal alloy, a ceramic, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments,the powder material comprises particles of 0.2 micrometers to 100micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the powder material comprisesparticles of 0.5 to 2 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, thefirst layer of powder material has a thickness of less than 10 mm. Insome embodiments, the first layer of powder material has a thickness ofless than 1 mm. In some embodiments, the method further comprisesdispersing unbounded powder material from bounded powder material. Insome embodiments, the dispersing is via removal of unbounded powdermaterial from the container. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises a second curing of the three-dimensional object at atemperature of at least 500° C. for at least 5 minutes. In someembodiments, the method further comprises a second curing of thethree-dimensional object at a temperature of at least 1000° C. for atleast 12 hours. In some embodiments, the second curing comprisesinfusion of a metal or metal alloy.

In some embodiments, the first binding substance and the second bindingsubstance are the same binding substance. In some embodiments, thebinding substance is a liquid. In some embodiments, the bindingsubstance has a viscosity of less than 100 cP. In some embodiments, theheating of the first subsection of the first area is with the aid of asource of electromagnetic radiation or a resistive heating element. Insome embodiments, the source of electromagnetic radiation is at leastone laser. In some embodiments, the first subsection of the first areais less than the first area. In some embodiments, the first subsectionof the first area is less than 99% of the first area. In someembodiments, the first subsection of the first area is less than 90% ofthe first area.

In some embodiments, the applying of the binding substance is via aninkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, or a nebulizer. In some embodiments,the inkjet head, sprayer, or nebulizer has a greatest orifice dimensionof 5 to 1000 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the inkjet head,sprayer, or nebulizer has a greatest orifice dimension of 10 to 500micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the three-dimensional objectis formed in a time period of less than 1 week. In some embodiments, thethree-dimensional object is formed in a time period of less than 3 days.In some embodiments, the three-dimensional object is formed in a timeperiod of less than 36 hours. In some embodiments, the three-dimensionalobject has dimensions of less than 1 m by 1 m by 1 m. In someembodiments, the model design comprises at least 10 parallelcross-sections of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, themodel design comprises at least 100 parallel cross-sections of thethree-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the first perimeter ofthe first area deviates from a corresponding portion of the model designof the three-dimensional object.

In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method forforming a three-dimensional object, comprising alternately andsequentially (a) applying a stream comprising a binding substance to anarea of a layer of powder material in a powder bed, wherein the streamis applied in accordance with a model design of the three-dimensionalobject, and (b) directing an energy beam to at most a portion of thelayer of powder material, wherein the energy beam is directed inaccordance with the model design of the three-dimensional object,wherein the stream has a first cross-sectional dimension and the energybeam has a second cross-sectional dimension, wherein firstcross-sectional dimensional is greater than the second cross-sectionaldimensional. In some embodiments, the stream comprises aerosolparticles. In some embodiments, the stream is a liquid stream.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forminga three-dimensional object, comprising alternately and sequentially (a)applying a stream comprising a binding substance to an area of a layerof powder material in a powder bed, wherein the stream is applied inaccordance with a model design of the three-dimensional object, and (b)generating at least one perimeter of the three-dimensional object in thearea, wherein the at least one perimeter is generated in accordance withthe model design. In some embodiments, the at least one perimeter isgenerated mechanically. In some embodiments, the at least one perimeteris generated using an air knife. In some embodiments, the at least oneperimeter is generated using a knife. In some embodiments, the at leastone perimeter is generated upon heating at least a portion of the area.In some embodiments, the at least one perimeter is generated uponheating a portion but not all of the area.

In some embodiments, the at least one perimeter is generated using alaser. In some embodiments, the at least one perimeter is generatedusing a contact cutter. In some embodiments, the at least one perimeteris generated using a non-contact cutter.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forminga three-dimensional object, comprising: providing a surface comprising apowder bed comprising powder material; applying a first bindingsubstance to a first area of a first layer of powder material of thepowder bed; using a first cutter to generate one or more perimeters ofthe first layer of powder material, wherein the one or more perimetersof the first layer is in accordance to a model design of thethree-dimensional object; depositing a second layer of powder materialadjacent to the first layer of powder material in the container;applying a second binding substance to a second area of a second layerof powder material of the powder bed; using a second cutter to generateone or more perimeters of the second layer of powder material, whereinthe one or more perimeters of the second layer is in accordance to themodel design of the three-dimensional object.

In some embodiments, the cutting comprises two or more cutting passes.In some embodiments, the cutting comprises three or more cutting passes.In some embodiments, at least a portion of the first perimeter of thefirst layer is generated by one cutting pass. In some embodiments, atleast a portion of the first perimeter of the first layer is generatedby two cutting passes. In some embodiments, the generating of one ormore perimeters of a layer is made via a multi-axis (e.g., 2, 3, 4, or5-axis) machine tool. In some embodiments, the first cutter is a contactcutter. In some embodiments, the contact cutter is a knife. In someembodiments, the first cutter is a non-contact cutter. In someembodiments, the non-contact cutter is a laser. In some embodiments, thesecond cutter is the first cutter.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forminga three-dimensional object, comprising: providing a surface comprising apowder bed comprising powder material; applying a first bindingsubstance to a first area of a first layer of powder material of thepowder bed; depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to thefirst layer of powder material in the container; applying a secondbinding substance to a second area of a second layer of powder materialof the powder bed; and using a cutter to generate one or more perimetersof the first layer and the second layer of powder material, wherein theone or more perimeters of the first layer and the second layer is inaccordance to a model design of the three-dimensional object. In someembodiments, the generating one or more perimeters of the first layerand the second layer of powder material is via one (or single) pass. Insome embodiments, the generation of one or more perimeters of the firstlayer and the second layer of powder material is via two or more passes.In some embodiments, the generating of one or more perimeters of a layeris made via a multi-axis (e.g., 5-axis) machine tool, a Computer NumericControl (CNC) spindle, a cutting tool bit, or a blade.

In some embodiments, the generating of one or more perimeters of a layeris made via a multi-axis (e.g., 2, 3, 4, or 5-axis) machine tool. Insome embodiments, the first binding substance is a liquid. In someembodiments, the first binding substance has a droplet size of 0.1micrometers to 100 micrometers when applied to the first area of thefirst layer of powder material. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises heating the first area of the first layer of powder material.In some embodiments, the heating occurs at least 0.1 second after theapplying of the first substance to the first area of the first layer ofpowder material.

In yet another aspect, the current disclosure provides a method forforming a three-dimensional object, comprising: providing a surfacecomprising a powder bed comprising powder material; applying a firstbinding substance to a first area of a first layer of powder material ofthe powder bed; depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent tothe first layer of powder material in the container; applying a secondbinding substance to a second area of a second layer of powder materialof the powder bed; and using at least one cutter to generate one or moreperimeters of the first layer and the second layer of powder material,wherein the perimeter of the first layer is in accordance with anddeviates from a model design of the first layer of the three-dimensionalobject. In some embodiments, the perimeter of the first layer of powdermaterial is half a layer shifted from the design of the first layer ofthe three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the first bindingsubstance has a penetration depth into the powder material, and acutting depth of the first powder layer is not equivalent to apenetration depth of the binding substance into the first layer ofpowder material.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: a powder dispenser that (i)dispenses a powder material to form a first layer of the powder materialas part of a powder bed, and (ii) dispenses the powder material to forma second layer of the powder material adjacent to the first layer; andat least one cutter that generates one or more perimeters of the firstlayer of powder material, wherein the perimeter of the first layer is inaccordance with and deviates from a model design of the first layer ofthe three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the perimeter of thefirst layer of powder material is half a layer shifted from the designof the first layer of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments,a cutting depth of a powder layer is equivalent to a penetration depthof a binding substance.

In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method forforming a three-dimensional object, comprising: providing a model designof the three-dimensional object in computer memory; transforming themodel design to include (i) one or more layers each with a layerthickness (L) and (ii) one or more perimeters each with a thickness (P),wherein each of the one or more layers corresponds to a defined layer ofpowder material, and wherein each of the one or more perimeterscorresponds to an individual perimeter separately defined in a givenlayer of the one or more layers, thereby providing a transformed modeldesign in computer memory; and using the transformed model design togenerate instructions usable for generating the three-dimensionalobject, which instructions provide for generation of the one or morelayers independently from generation of the one or more perimeters. Insome embodiments, the method further comprises using the instructions togenerate the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, L=n*P,wherein ‘n’ is a number greater than 1. In some embodiments, P=n*L,wherein ‘n’ is a number greater than 1. In some embodiments, a cuttingdepth of a powder layer is equivalent to a penetration depth of abinding substance.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a computing system forcontrolling an apparatus of forming a three-dimensional object,comprising a computer processor, computer memory and computer codeexecutable by the computer processor to perform operations comprising:transforming a model design of the three-dimensional object into (i) aplurality of layers each with a layer thickness (L) and (ii) a pluralityof perimeters each with a thickness (P), wherein each of the pluralityof layers corresponds to a defined layer of powder material, and whereineach of the plurality of perimeters corresponds to an individualperimeter in a given layer of the plurality of layers defined separatelyfrom the plurality of perimeters, thereby providing a transformed modeldesign in computer memory; and creating machine instructions forcontrolling the apparatus to generate the three-dimensional object basedon the transformed model design. In some embodiments, the operationscomprise determining a total cutting depth for a layer equal to apenetration depth. In some embodiments, the total cutting depth is notequal to a layer thickness. In some embodiments, the penetration depthis equal to a height of a layer. In some embodiments, the operationscomprise determining a configuration for cutting a layer.

In some embodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluatinga shape and a size of a first layer of the plurality of layers. In someembodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluating a shapeand a size of a second layer of the plurality of layers. In someembodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluating acutting path, the cutting path overlapping with a first cutting path inthe first layer and a second cutting path in the second layer. In someembodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluating a cutaway area. In some embodiments, evaluating the cut away area is based atleast in part on a boundary offset area, a current layer area, anoriginal layer area, an area of the first layer, and an area of thesecond layer. In some embodiments, the operations comprise determining ageometric compensation of the plurality of layers. In some embodiments,determining the geometric compensation comprises using a statisticalscaling algorithm. In some embodiments, determining the geometriccompensation comprises using a machine learning algorithm.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising machine-executable code that, uponexecution by one or more processors, implements operations forcontrolling an apparatus of forming a three-dimensional object, theoperations comprising: transforming a model design of thethree-dimensional object into (i) a plurality of layers each with alayer thickness (L) and (ii) a plurality of perimeters each with athickness (P), wherein each of the plurality of layers corresponds to adefined layer of powder material, and wherein each of the plurality ofperimeters corresponds to an individual perimeter in a given layer ofthe plurality of layers defined separately from the plurality ofperimeters, thereby providing a transformed model design in computermemory; and creating machine instructions for controlling the apparatusto generate the three-dimensional object based on the transformed modeldesign. In some embodiments, the operations comprise determining a totalcutting depth for a layer equal to a penetration depth. In someembodiments, the total cutting depth is not equal to a layer thickness.In some embodiments, the penetration depth is equal to a height of alayer. In some embodiments, the operations comprise determiningconfiguration of cutting a layer.

In some embodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluatinga shape and a size of a first layer of the plurality of layers. In someembodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluating a shapeand a size of a second layer of the plurality of layers. In someembodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluating acutting path, the cutting path overlapping with a first cutting path inthe first layer and a second cutting path in the second layer. In someembodiments, determining configuration comprises evaluating a cut awayarea. In some embodiments, evaluating the cut away area is based on aboundary offset area, a current layer area, an original layer area, anarea of the previous layer, and an area of the next layer. In someembodiments, the operations comprise determining a geometriccompensation of the plurality of layers. In some embodiments,determining the geometric compensation comprises using a statisticalscaling algorithm. In some embodiments, determining the geometriccompensation comprises using a machine learning algorithm.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed; (c)heating a first subsection of the first area, wherein the firstsubsection is from a model design of the three-dimensional object; (d)depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to the firstlayer; (e) applying a second binding substance to a second area of thesecond layer of powder material; and (f) heating a second subsection ofthe second area, wherein the second subsection is from the model designof the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, at least a portionof the second layer binds to the first layer. In some embodiments, themethod further comprises repeating (d)-(f) at least 10 times. In someembodiments, the method further comprises performing a first curing ofthe three-dimensional object at a temperature of at least 70° C. for atleast 10 minutes. In some embodiments, the method further comprisesperforming a second curing of the three-dimensional object at atemperature of at least 500° C. for at least 5 minutes. In someembodiments, the second curing is performed at a temperature of at least1000° C. for at least 5 minutes.

In some embodiments, the powder material comprises a polymer, a metal, ametal alloy, a ceramic, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments,the powder material comprises stainless steel powder, bronze powder,bronze alloy powder, gold powder, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the powder material comprises particles of 0.5 micrometersto 2 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the first layer has athickness of at least 0.1 millimeters. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises dispersing unbounded powder material from boundedpowder material formed from the powder bed. In some embodiments, thedispersing is via removal of unbounded powder material from a containercontaining the powder bed. In some embodiments, the first bindingsubstance and the second binding substance are the same bindingsubstance. In some embodiments, the binding substance is a liquid. Insome embodiments, the heating of the first subsection of the first areais with the aid of a source of electromagnetic radiation or a resistiveheating element. In some embodiments, the source of electromagneticradiation is at least one laser. In some embodiments, the firstsubsection of the first area is less than 99% of the first area. In someembodiments, the applying of the first binding substance is via aninkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, or a nebulizer. In some embodiments,the first binding substance has a droplet size of 0.1 micrometers to 100micrometers when applied to the first area of the first layer. In someembodiments, the first binding substance has a droplet size of 1micrometer to 10 micrometers when applied to the first area of the firstlayer.

In some embodiments, the model design comprises at least 10 parallelcross-sections of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments,wherein upon applying the second binding substance to the second area,the second binding substrate extends through the second layer to thefirst layer. In some embodiments, the heating in (c) or (f) comprisessintering individual particles of the powder material. In someembodiments, the heating in (c) or (f) is in the absence of sinteringindividual particles of the powder material. In some embodiments,wherein in (b), the first binding substrate is applied to at most thefirst area.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed,wherein upon application of the first binding substance, a firstperimeter of the first area deviates from at least a correspondingportion of a model design of the three-dimensional object; (c) heating afirst subsection of the first area of the first layer; (d) depositing asecond layer of powder material adjacent to the first layer; E applyinga second binding substance to a second area of the second layer ofpowder material, wherein upon application of the second bindingsubstance, a second perimeter of the second area deviates from at leasta corresponding portion of the model design of the three-dimensionalobject; and (f) heating a second subsection of the second area of thesecond layer of powder material. In some embodiments, the first area isat least 1% larger than the model design of the first layer of thethree-dimensional object. In some embodiments, a portion of the secondlayer binds to the first layer. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises repeating (d)-(f) at least 10 times. In some embodiments, themethod further comprises performing a first curing of thethree-dimensional object at a temperature of at least 70° C. for atleast 10 minutes, and optionally performing a second curing of thethree-dimensional object at a temperature of at least 500° C. for atleast 5 minutes. In some embodiments, the powder material comprises apolymer, a metal, a metal alloy, a ceramic, or a combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the powder material comprises particles of 0.2micrometers to 100 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the firstlayer has a thickness of less than 10 mm. In some embodiments, the firstbinding substance and the second binding substance are the same bindingsubstance.

In some embodiments, the heating of the first subsection of the firstarea is with the aid of a source of electromagnetic radiation or aresistive heating element. In some embodiments, the first subsection ofthe first area is less than the first area. In some embodiments, thefirst subsection of the first area is less than 99% of the first area.In some embodiments, the applying of the binding substance is via aninkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, or a nebulizer. In some embodiments,the inkjet head, sprayer, or nebulizer has a greatest orifice dimensionof 5 to 1000 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, the model designcomprises at least 10 parallel cross-sections of the three-dimensionalobject.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising alternately and sequentially (a)applying a stream comprising a binding substance to an area of a layerof powder material in a powder bed, wherein the stream is applied inaccordance with a model design of the three-dimensional object, and (b)directing an energy beam to at most a portion of the layer of powdermaterial, wherein the energy beam is directed in accordance with themodel design of the three-dimensional object, wherein the stream has afirst cross-sectional dimension and the energy beam has a secondcross-sectional dimension, wherein the first cross-sectional dimensionalis greater than the second cross-sectional dimensional. In someembodiments, the stream comprises aerosol particles. In someembodiments, the stream is a liquid stream. In some embodiments, thefirst cross-sectional dimensional is at least 1% greater than the secondcross-sectional dimensional. In some embodiments, the firstcross-sectional dimensional is at least 10% greater than the secondcross-sectional dimensional.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: a container that is configured tocontain a powder bed; a binding substance applicator that is configuredto apply a binding substance to an area of a layer of powder material inthe powder bed; an energy source that is configured to provide an energybeam directed to at most a portion of the layer of powder material; andone or more computer processors operatively coupled to the bindingsubstance applicator and the energy source, wherein the one or morecomputer processors are individually or collectively programmed to (a)direct the binding substance applicator to apply a stream comprising thebinding substance to an area of a layer of powder material in the powderbed, wherein the stream is applied in accordance with a model design ofthe three-dimensional object, and (b) direct the energy source toprovide the energy beam directed to at most a portion of the layer ofpowder material, wherein the energy beam is directed in accordance withthe model design of the three-dimensional object, wherein the stream hasa first cross-sectional dimension and the energy beam has a secondcross-sectional dimension, wherein the first cross-sectional dimensionalis greater than the second cross-sectional dimensional. In someembodiments, the energy source comprises at least one laser.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising alternately and sequentially (a)applying a stream comprising a binding substance to an area of a layerof powder material in a powder bed, wherein the stream is applied inaccordance with a model design of the three-dimensional object, and (b)generating at least one perimeter of the three-dimensional object in thearea, wherein the at least one perimeter is in accordance with the modeldesign. In some embodiments, the at least one perimeter is generatedmechanically. In some embodiments, the at least one perimeter isgenerated upon heating at least a portion of the area. In someembodiments, the at least one perimeter is generated using an energysource that provides an energy beam that subjects the at least theportion of the area to the heating. In some embodiments, the at leastone perimeter is generated using a laser.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: a container that is configured tocontain a powder bed; a binding substance applicator that is configuredto apply a binding substance to an area of a layer of powder material inthe powder bed; a perimeter generator that is configured to generate atleast one perimeter of the three-dimensional object in the area; and oneor more computer processors operatively coupled to the binding substanceapplicator and perimeter generator, wherein the one or more computerprocessors are individually or collectively programmed to (a) direct thebinding substance application to apply a stream comprising the bindingsubstance to the area of the layer of powder material in the powder bed,wherein the stream is applied in accordance with a model design of thethree-dimensional object, and (b) direct the perimeter generator togenerate the at least one perimeter of the three-dimensional object inthe area, wherein the at least one perimeter is in accordance with themodel design.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed; (c)using a first cutter to generate one or more perimeters of the firstlayer, wherein the one or more perimeters of the first layer is inaccordance to a model design of the three-dimensional object in computermemory; (d) depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to thefirst layer; (e) applying a second binding substance to a second area ofa second layer of powder material of the powder bed; (f) using a secondcutter to generate one or more perimeters of the second layer of powdermaterial, wherein the one or more perimeters of the second layer is inaccordance to the model design of the three-dimensional object. In someembodiments, the cutting in (b) comprises two or more cutting passes. Insome embodiments, the generating of one or more perimeters of a layer isvia a multi-axis machine tool. In some embodiments, the first cutter isa contact cutter. In some embodiments, the first cutter is a non-contactcutter.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed; (c)depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to the firstlayer; (d) applying a second binding substance to a second area of asecond layer of powder material of the powder bed; and (e) using acutter to generate one or more perimeters of the first layer and thesecond layer of powder material, wherein the one or more perimeters ofthe first layer and the second layer is in accordance with a modeldesign of the three-dimensional object in computer memory. In someembodiments, the one or more perimeters of the first layer and thesecond layer of powder material is generated in a single pass of thecutter. In some embodiments, the one or more perimeters of the firstlayer and the second layer is generated via a multi-axis machine tool, aComputer Numeric Control (CNC) spindle, a cutting tool bit, or a blade.In some embodiments, the one or more perimeters of the first layer andthe second layer is generated via a multi-axis machine tool. In someembodiments, the method further comprises, in (b), heating the firstarea of the first layer.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed; (c)depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to the firstlayer; (d) applying a second binding substance to a second area of asecond layer of powder material of the powder bed; and (e) using atleast one cutter to simultaneously generate one or more perimeters ofthe first layer and the second layer of powder material, wherein the oneor more perimeters of the first layer deviates from a model design ofthe first layer and/or the one or more perimeters of the second layerdeviates from a model design of the second layer of thethree-dimensional object.

In some embodiments, the one or more perimeters of the first layer is atleast half a layer shifted from the model design of the first layer ofthe three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the one or moreperimeters of the first layer is at most half a layer shifted from themodel design of the first layer of the three-dimensional object.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: a container that is configured tocontain a powder bed; a powder dispenser that (i) dispenses a powdermaterial to form a first layer of the powder material as part of thepowder bed, and (ii) dispenses the powder material to form a secondlayer of the powder material adjacent to the first layer; and at leastone cutter that simultaneously generates one or more perimeters of thefirst layer; one or more computer processors operatively coupled to thepowder dispenser and the at least one cutter, wherein the one or morecomputer processors are individually or collectively programmed to (i)direct the powder dispense the powder material to form the first layerand the second layer, and (ii) direct the at least one cutter tosimultaneously generate the one or more perimeters of the first layerand the second layer of powder material, wherein the one or moreperimeters of the first layer deviates from a model design of the firstlayer and/or the one or more perimeters of the second layer deviatesfrom a model design of the second layer of the three-dimensional object.In some embodiments, the perimeter of the first layer of powder materialis half a layer shifted from the model design of the first layer of thethree dimensional object. In some embodiments, a cutting depth of apowder layer is equivalent to a penetration depth of a bindingsubstance.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a model design ofthe three-dimensional object in computer memory; (b) transforming themodel design to include (i) one or more layers each with a layerthickness (L) and (ii) one or more perimeters each with a thickness (P),wherein each of the one or more layers corresponds to a defined layer ofpowder material, and wherein each of the one or more perimeterscorresponds to an individual perimeter separately defined in a givenlayer of the one or more layers, thereby providing a transformed modeldesign in computer memory; and (c) using the transformed model design togenerate instructions usable for generating the three-dimensionalobject, which instructions provide for generation of the one or morelayers independently from generation of the one or more perimeters. Insome embodiments, the method further comprises using the instructions togenerate the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises determining a configuration for generation of the oneor more perimeters. In some embodiments, determining the configurationcomprises evaluating a cutting path, the cutting path overlapping with afirst cutting path in the first layer and a second cutting path in thesecond layer.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a computing system forcontrolling an apparatus for forming a three-dimensional object,comprising one or more computer processors, computer memory and computercode individually or collectively executable by the one or more computerprocessors to implement a method comprising: (a) transforming a modeldesign of the three-dimensional object into (i) a plurality of layerseach with a layer thickness (L) and (ii) a plurality of perimeters eachwith a thickness (P), wherein each of the plurality of layerscorresponds to a defined layer of powder material, and wherein each ofthe plurality of perimeters corresponds to an individual perimeter in agiven layer of the plurality of layers defined separately from theplurality of perimeters, thereby providing a transformed model design incomputer memory; and (b) creating machine instructions for controllingthe apparatus to generate the three-dimensional object based on thetransformed model design. In some embodiments, the operations comprisedetermining a total cutting depth for a layer equal to a penetrationdepth. In some embodiments, the total cutting depth is not equal to alayer thickness. In some embodiments, the penetration depth is equal toa height of a layer.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising machine-executable code that, uponexecution by one or more processors, implements a method for forming athree-dimensional object, the method comprising: (a) transforming amodel design of the three-dimensional object into (i) a plurality oflayers each with a layer thickness (L) and (ii) a plurality ofperimeters each with a thickness (P), wherein each of the plurality oflayers corresponds to a defined layer of powder material, and whereineach of the plurality of perimeters corresponds to an individualperimeter in a given layer of the plurality of layers defined separatelyfrom the plurality of perimeters, thereby providing a transformed modeldesign in computer memory; and (b) creating machine instructions forcontrolling the apparatus to generate the three-dimensional object basedon the transformed model design. In some embodiments, the operationscomprise determining a total cutting depth for a layer equal to apenetration depth. In some embodiments, the total cutting depth is notequal to a layer thickness. In some embodiments, the penetration depthis equal to a height of a layer. In some embodiments, the operationscomprise determining configuration of cutting a layer. In someembodiments, determining the configuration comprises evaluating a shapeand a size of a first layer of the plurality of layers. In someembodiments, determining a geometric compensation comprises using astatistical scaling algorithm or a machine learning algorithm.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed; (c)using a first perimeter generator to generate one or more perimeters ofthe first layer, wherein the one or more perimeters of the first layeris in accordance to a model design of the three-dimensional object incomputer memory; (d) depositing a second layer of powder materialadjacent to the first layer; (e) applying a second binding substance toa second area of a second layer of powder material of the powder bed;and (f) using a second perimeter generator to generate one or moreperimeters of the second layer of powder material, wherein the one ormore perimeters of the second layer is in accordance to the model designof the three-dimensional object, thereby generating at least a portionof the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the first bindingsubstance and/or the second binding substance are applied in a mannersuch that there is (i) no pooling of the first binding substance and/orthe second binding substance in the powder bed or (ii) no physicaldisturbance of individual particles of the powder material.

In some embodiments, the first binding substance and the second bindingsubstance are the same binding substance. In some embodiments, the firstperimeter generator and the second perimeter generator are the sameperimeter generator. In some embodiments, the method further comprises,subsequent to (f), heating the at least the portion of thethree-dimensional object. In some embodiments, the heating is bulkheating of the at least the portion of the three-dimensional object,which bulk heating comprises sintering individual particles of thepowder material in the at least the portion of the three-dimensionalobject. In some embodiments, the first perimeter generator and/or thesecond perimeter generator is a multi-axis machine tool. In someembodiments, the first or second perimeter generator is a first orsecond cutter.

In some embodiments, the first or second cutter is a contact cutter. Insome embodiments, the first or second cutter is a non-contact cutterthat does not contact the powder bed upon generating the one or moreperimeters of the first layer or second layer, respectively. In someembodiments, the non-contact cutter includes at least one laser. In someembodiments, the first binding substance and/or the second bindingsubstance is applied via an inkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, anultrasonic sprayer, or a nebulizer. In some embodiments, in (b), theinkjet head, atomizing sprayer, ultrasonic sprayer, or nebulizer istilted at an angle greater than 0° with respective to an axisperpendicular to the first layer. In some embodiments, the powdermaterial comprises stainless steel powder, bronze powder, bronze alloypowder, gold powder, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments,the first binding substance or the second binding substance has adroplet size of 0.1 micrometers to 100 micrometers when applied to thefirst area of the first layer or the second area of the second layer,respectively. In some embodiments, the first area or the second area isan entirety of an exposed area of the powder bed. In some embodiments,the method further comprises (i) subjecting at least a portion of thefirst area to heating subsequent to (b), or (ii) subjecting at least aportion of the second area to heating subsequent to (e).

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: (a) providing a powder bedcomprising powder material; (b) applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed; (c)depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to the firstlayer; (d) applying a second binding substance to a second area of asecond layer of powder material of the powder bed; and (e) using atleast one perimeter generator to generate one or more perimeters of thefirst layer and the second layer of powder material, wherein the one ormore perimeters of the first layer and the second layer is in accordancewith a model design of the three-dimensional object in computer memory,thereby generating at least a portion of the three-dimensional object.In some embodiments, the one or more perimeters of the first layer andthe second layer of powder material is generated in a single pass of thecutter. In some embodiments, the one or more perimeters of the firstlayer and the second layer is generated via a multi-axis machine tool, aComputer Numeric Control (CNC) spindle, a cutting tool bit, or a blade.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises heating the first areaof the first layer or the second area of the second layer. In someembodiments, the at least one perimeter generator is a plurality ofperimeter generators. In some embodiments, wherein in (e), the or moreperimeters of the first layer and the second layer are generatedsimultaneously. In some embodiments, wherein in (e), the or moreperimeters of the first layer and/or the second layer deviates from themodel design. In some embodiments, the first binding substance and/orthe second binding substance are applied in a manner such that there is(i) no pooling of the first binding substance and/or the second bindingsubstance in the powder bed or (ii) no physical disturbance ofindividual particles of the powder material.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises, subsequent to (e),heating the at least the portion of the three-dimensional object. Insome embodiments, the heating is bulk heating of the at least theportion of the three-dimensional object, which bulk heating comprisessintering individual particles of the powder material in the at leastthe portion of the three-dimensional object. In some embodiments, thefirst binding substance and/or the second binding substance is appliedvia an inkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, an ultrasonic sprayer, or anebulizer. In some embodiments, the powder material comprises particlesof 0.5 micrometers to 50 micrometers in size. In some embodiments, thefirst area or the second area is an entirety of an exposed area of thepowder bed.

Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in this art from the followingdetailed description, wherein only illustrative embodiments of thepresent disclosure are shown and described. As will be realized, thepresent disclosure is capable of other and different embodiments, andits several details are capable of modifications in various obviousrespects, all without departing from the disclosure. Accordingly, thedrawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature,and not as restrictive.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All publications and patent applications mentioned in this specificationare herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if eachindividual publication or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. A better understanding of the features andadvantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments,in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and theaccompanying drawings (also “figure” and “FIG.” herein), of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic of a flow chart of a three-dimensionalprinting process;

FIGS. 2A-2C schematically illustrates a method of forming athree-dimensional object;

FIGS. 3A-3D schematically illustrate a method of forming athree-dimensional object using a layering technique of having a largelayer thickness and a fine cutting thickness;

FIGS. 4A-4D schematically illustrate a method of forming athree-dimensional object using a layering technique of having a largelayer thickness and a large cutting thickness;

FIGS. 5A-5D schematically illustrate a method of forming athree-dimensional object using a layering technique of having a largelayer thickness and a combination of fine and large cutting thicknesses;

FIGS. 6A-6D schematically illustrate a method of forming athree-dimensional object using a layering technique of having a largelayer thickness and a large cutting thickness using an aligned cuttingpass;

FIGS. 7A and 7B schematically illustrates a sample set-up for forming athree-dimensional object;

FIGS. 8, 9A, and 9B schematically illustrate various views of a spraysystem that may be used to form a three-dimensional object;

FIG. 10 illustrates a heating system that may be used to cure a layer ofa three-dimensional object;

FIG. 11 illustrates a cutting system that may be used to remove excessmaterial during the formation of a three-dimensional object;

FIG. 12 illustrates a cutting strategy that may be used to form adesired 3D object;

FIG. 13 illustrates an alternative cutting strategy to FIG. 12 that maybe used to form the desired 3D object;

FIG. 14 illustrates a formation strategy that may be used to form athree-dimensional object using a layering technique;

FIG. 15 illustrates a triangulated digital model as a stereolithography(STL) file;

FIG. 16 illustrates the triangle intersections for a given slice of themodel of FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 illustrates the associated loops for the slice of FIG. 16 forfurther clarification;

FIG. 18 illustrates a cutting strategy for the object of FIG. 15;

FIG. 19 illustrates an alternative cutting strategy for the object ofFIG. 15;

FIG. 20 illustrates a specific surface of the object of FIG. 15;

FIG. 21 illustrates a way of classifying a surface of the desired objectto optimize cut order;

FIGS. 22A-22C illustrate one approach to slices or layers of athree-dimensional product;

FIGS. 23A-23C illustrate an alternative approach to slices or layers ofa three-dimensional product;

FIGS. 24A-24C illustrate three different desired printed parts;

FIG. 25 illustrates a desired printed part that may be made withdifferent cut speeds;

FIG. 26 illustrates a schematic ultrasonic mist generator system;

FIGS. 27A-27B illustrate two potential spray patterns that may be usedwhen directing binding material towards a layer of powder material on apowder bed;

FIG. 28 illustrates an apparatus with a vacuum directly behind (thespray mask);

FIG. 29 illustrates a spray module with vacuum assisted spray;

FIG. 30 illustrates one method in which a uniform flow may be achieved;

FIG. 31 illustrates multiple parts that may be formed with a methoddescribed herein;

FIG. 32 shows a computer control system that is programmed or otherwiseconfigured to implement methods provided herein; and

FIG. 33 illustrates a configuration of multiple spindles used for asingle powder bed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While various embodiments of the invention have been shown and describedherein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that suchembodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations,changes, and substitutions may occur to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the invention. It should be understood that variousalternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may beemployed.

The term “subsection,” as used herein, may refer to an area that is lessthan 100%, 95%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, or 10% of thetotal area.

The term “layer,” as used herein, refers to a layer of atoms ormolecules on a surface, such as a substrate. In some cases, a layerincludes an epitaxial layer or a plurality of epitaxial layers (orsub-layers). A layer generally has a thickness from about one monoatomicmonolayer (ML) to tens of monolayers, hundreds of monolayers, thousandsof monolayers, millions of monolayers, billions of monolayers, trillionsof monolayers, or more. In an example, a layer is a multilayer structurehaving a thickness greater than one monoatomic monolayer. In addition, alayer may include multiple material layers.

The term “perimeter,” as used herein, generally refers to a continuousor non-continuous line forming a boundary of a given area. The area maybe a closed area. The perimeter may be at least a portion of a boundaryof the given area. For example, the given area may be an area in a layerof powder material. The perimeter may be an entirety of the boundary ora portion of the boundary. The perimeter may be part of anotherperimeter, such as a larger perimeter. The perimeter may be part of anascent or final three-dimensional product.

The term “powder,” as used herein, generally refers to a solid havingparticles, such as fine particles. The powder may also be referred to as“particulate material.” A powder may include individual particles withcross-sections (e.g., diameters) of at least about 5 nanometers (nm), 10nm, 20 nm, 30 nm, 40 nm, 50 nm, 100 nm, 200 nm, 300 nm, 400 nm, 500 nm,1 μm, 5 μm, 10 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, 35 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, 45 μm, 50 μm, 55μm, 60 μm, 65 μm, 70 μm, 75 μm, 80 μm, or 100 μm. The individualparticles may be of various shapes, such as, for example, spherical,oval, cubic, irregularly shaped, or partial shapes or any combination ofshapes thereof.

The term “support,” as used herein, generally refers to any work pieceon which a material used to form a 3D object, is placed on. The 3Dobject may be formed directly on the base, directly from the base, oradjacent to the base. The 3D object may be formed above the base. Thesupport may be a substrate. The support may be disposed in an enclosure(e.g., a chamber). The enclosure can have one or more walls formed ofvarious types of materials, such as elemental metal, metal alloy (e.g.,stainless steel), ceramics, or an allotrope of elemental carbon. Theenclosure can have shapes of various cross-sections, such as circular,triangular, square, rectangular, or partial shapes or a combinationthereof. The enclosure may be thermally insulated. The enclosure maycomprise thermal insulation. The enclosure may provide thermal orenvironmental insulation. The base can comprise an elemental metal,metal alloy, ceramic, allotrope of carbon, or polymer. The base cancomprise stone, zeolite, clay or glass. The elemental metal can includeiron, molybdenum, tungsten, copper, aluminum, gold, silver or titanium.A metal alloy may include steel (e.g., stainless steel). A ceramicmaterial may include alumina. The base can include silicon, germanium,silica, sapphire, zinc oxide, carbon (e.g., graphite, Graphene, diamond,amorphous carbon, carbon fiber, carbon nanotube or fullerene), SiC, AN,GaN, spinel, coated silicon, silicon on oxide, silicon carbide on oxide,gallium nitride, indium nitride, titanium dioxide, aluminum nitride. Insome cases, the base comprises a susceptor (i.e., a material that canabsorb electromagnetic energy and convert it to heat). The base,substrate and/or enclosure can be stationary or translatable.

The enclosure may be open to air or maintained in a controlledenvironment. In some examples, the enclosure is under an inertatmosphere, such as an inert gas (e.g., Ar, He, N₂, Kr, Xe, H₂, CO, CO₂,or Ne). The enclosure may be filled with a non-reactive gas.

As an alternative, the enclosure may be maintained under vacuum. Thepressure in the chamber can be at least 10⁻⁷ Torr, 10⁻⁶ Torr, 10⁻⁵ Torr,10⁻⁴ Torr, 10⁻³ Torr, 10⁻² Torr, 10⁻¹ Torr, 1 Torr, 10 Torr, 100 Torr, 1bar, 2 bar, 3 bar, 4 bar, 5 bar, 10 bar, 20 bar, 30 bar, 40 bar, 50 bar,100 bar, 200 bar, 300 bar, 400 bar, 500 bar, 1000 bar, or more. Thepressure in the enclosure may be at least 100 Torr, 200 Torr, 300 Torr,400 Torr, 500 Torr, 600 Torr, 700 Torr, 720 Torr, 740 Torr, 750 Torr,760 Torr, 900 Torr, 1000 Torr, 1100 Torr, 1200 Torr. The pressure in theenclosure may be at most 10⁻⁷ Torr, 10⁻⁶ Torr, 10⁻⁵ Torr, 10⁻⁴ Torr,10⁻³ Torr, 10⁻² Torr, 10⁻¹ Torr, 1 Torr, 10 Torr, 100 Torr, 200 Torr,300 Torr, 400 Torr, 500 Torr, 600 Torr, 700 Torr, 720 Torr, 740 Torr,750 Torr, 760 Torr, 900 Torr, 1000 Torr, 1100 Torr, or 1200 Torr. Insome cases the pressure in the enclosure may be standard atmosphericpressure.

The term “about” when referring to a number or a numerical rangegenerally means that the number or numerical range referred to is anapproximation within experimental variability (or within statisticalexperimental error), and thus the number or numerical range may varyfrom, for example, between 1% and 15% of the stated number or numericalrange.

The term “adjacent” or “adjacent to,” as used herein, generally refersto ‘next to’, ‘adjoining’, ‘in contact with,’ or ‘in proximity to.’Adjacent to may refer to one feature, such as a layer, being ‘above’ or‘below’ another feature, such as another layer. A first layer adjacentto a second layer may be in direct contact with the second layer, orthere may be one or more intervening layers between the first layer andthe second layer.

Three-dimensional printing (3D printing) may refer to a process offorming a three-dimensional object. To form a three-dimensional object,multiple layers of a powder material may be layered sequentiallyadjacent to one another. The layers of powder material may be heated,cured, or chemically treated, individually or at the same time, so thatparticles of the powder material fuse or melt together.

A model design may be used to guide the formation of specific areas orsubsections of powder material that is treated with binding material,heat, chemicals, or any combination thereof. The model design may be acomputer-generated design, such as using 3D printing software. Thelayers of powder material may be layered sequentially until the objectformed takes the shape of the model design of the three-dimensionalobject.

Materials

A three-dimensional object may be formed on a surface. A powder bed maybe applied adjacent to a surface for formation of a three-dimensionalobject. The surface may be a flat surface, an uneven surface, acontainer, a build box, a box, a table, or any combination thereof.

In some cases, a container or box may have a heating mechanismintegrated or adjacent to the container or box. The container or box maybe heated at an elevated temperature throughout a method describedherein, to ensure individual particles of the powder material do notclump together. In some cases, the powder materials do not clumptogether before, during, or after application of a binder to the powdermaterial. The container or box may be heated to a temperature of atleast about 25° C., 30° C., 40° C., 50° C., 60° C., 70° C., 80° C., 90°C., 100° C., 110° C., 120° C., 130° C., 140° C., 150° C., 160° C., 170°C., 180° C., 190° C., 200° C., 300° C., 400° C., 500° C., 600° C., 700°C., 800° C., 900° C., 1000° C., or more. In some cases, the container orbox may be heated throughout the method of formation of thethree-dimensional object at a temperature of 25° C. to 500° C., 50° C.to 200° C., 70° C. to 150° C., or 80° C. to 120° C.

A powder material may be a powder of a polymer, a metal, a metal alloy,a ceramic, a cermet, or any combination thereof. A powder material maycomprise a solid, a liquid, a gel, or any combination thereof. A powdermaterial may comprise stainless steel, bronze, steel, gold, nickel,nickel steel, aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes,graphene, graphene embedded in plastic, nitinol, water-absorbingplastic, plastic, sand, conductive carbomorph, paper, concrete, food,yarn, or any combination thereof. A powder material may be coated by acoating, such as coating by plastic, an organic material, or anycombination thereof. In some cases, the powder material may comprisemetal particles. In some cases, the powder material may comprise goldparticles. In some cases, the powder material may comprise stainlesssteel particles. The stainless steel particles may comprise metalinjection molding (MIM) grades of stainless steel. The stainless steelparticles may be 316L, 17-4 PH, 430L, 440C, 310S, 420J, 904L grade. Thestainless steel particles may be MIM grade 17-4 PH. The powder materialmay comprise carbon, manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, chromium,nickel, copper, niobium, or iron. The powder material may comprisechromium, nickel, copper, niobium, or iron.

In some cases, a layer of powder material that is applied to a surfacemay comprise two or more different materials, wherein these two or morematerials react with each other during deposition onto the surface,during application of binding material, during curing, during sintering,or any combination thereof. The two or more materials may be combinedbefore or during deposition of the powder material onto the powder bed.In some cases, a layer of powder material may comprise stainless steelparticles and bronze particles.

In some cases, a single layer may be heated. Alternatively, multiplelayers may be heated simultaneously. Multiple layers of a powdermaterial may form a green part, wherein no more layers will be added. Insome cases, an entire green part may be heated simultaneously. Forinstance, an entire green part may be heated in a furnace.

The three-dimensional object may have a linear shrinkage after heatingor sintering. In some cases, an object may have a linear shrinkage of atmost 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, 15%, 10%, 5%, 1%, or less. In some cases, anobject may have a linear shrinkage of about 5% to 30%, 10% to 20%, or15% to 20%. The three-dimensional object may have a yield strength, oryield stress, of at least 50 megapascal (MPa), 100 MPa, 100 MPa, 200MPa, 300 MPa, 400 MPa, 500 MPa, or more. In some cases, athree-dimensional object may vary from the computer model of thethree-dimensional object. A finished object may vary in size inone-dimension (e.g., length, width, height) from the computer model byat most about 10%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 0.9%, 0.8%, 0.7%, 0.6%, 0.5%,0.4%, 0.3%, 0.2%, 0.1%, or less.

A powder material, as used herein, generally refers to a solid havingfine particles. The powder can comprise individual particles, and theparticles may be spherical, oval, cubic, irregularly shaped, or partialshapes or any combination of shapes thereof. A powder material may becharacterized by various techniques, including, but not limited to, hallflow, powder flow, angle of repose, tapped density, morphology,porosity, laser diffraction, sieve analysis, moisture content, chemicalcomposition, or any combination thereof. In some cases, the powdermaterial is substantially spherically shaped.

A powder material may comprise particles of a substantially uniformsize. A powder material may comprise particles of at least about 0.1micrometers, 0.2 micrometers, 0.3 micrometers, 0.4 micrometers, 0.5micrometers, 0.6 micrometers, 0.7 micrometers, 0.8 micrometers, 0.9micrometers, 1 micrometer, 2 micrometers, 5 micrometers, 10 micrometers,20 micrometers, 30 micrometers, 40 micrometers, 50 micrometers, 60micrometers, 70 micrometers, 80 micrometers, 90 micrometers, 100micrometers, 200 micrometers, 300 micrometers, 400 micrometers, 500micrometers, 600 micrometers, 700 micrometers, 800 micrometers, 900micrometers, or 1 millimeter. In some cases, a powder material maycomprise particles of 10 micrometers to 100 micrometers, 20 micrometersto 90 micrometers, 30 micrometers to 80 micrometers, or 40 micrometersto 60 micrometers. In some cases, a powder material may compriseparticles of about 50 micrometers.

A powder material may be categorized by different mesh sizes. A powdermaterial may comprise particles of mesh size of at least about 4, 6, 8,12, 16, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100, 140, 200, 230, 270, 325, 400,625, 1250, or 2500. In some cases, a powder material may compriseparticles of mesh size of about 100 to 625, 230 to 400, or 270 to 400.In some cases, a powder material has a mesh size of 270. In some cases,a powder material has a mesh size of 325. In some cases, a powdermaterial has a mesh size of 400.

In some cases, a powder material may include particles of different meshsizes. In some cases, a powder material may be a multimodal (e.g.,bimodal) powder material, wherein particles of different mesh sizes arepurposely mixed together.

The method of forming a three-dimensional object may require depositionof multiple layers to powder material. The method of forming athree-dimensional object may require at least 2 layers of powdermaterial, 3 layers, 4 layers, 5 layers, 6 layers, 7 layers, 8 layers, 9layers, 10 layers, 50 layers, 100 layers, 200 layers, 500 layers, 700layers, 1000 layers, or more to form the object. The object may require1 to 1000 layers of powder material, 10 to 700 layers, 100 to 500layers, or 200 to 400 layers to complete the formation of the object.The object may require 10 to 1000 layers of powder material, 100 to 700layers, 200 to 600 layers, or 300 to 500 layers to complete theformation of the object.

A layer of powder material may comprise one or more types of powdermaterial. In some cases, two or more elemental metals, two or more metalalloys, two or more ceramics, or two or more allotropes of elementalcarbon may be used to form a layer of powder material.

A layer of powder material may be distributed uniformly on a surface. Alayer of powder material may have a thickness on at least a portion of asurface or surface bed. A layer of powder material may have a thicknessof at least about 0.001 millimeters, 0.01 millimeters, 0.1 millimeters,0.2 millimeters, 0.3 millimeters, 0.4 millimeters, 0.5 millimeters, 0.6millimeters, 0.7 millimeters, 0.8 millimeters, 0.9 millimeters, 1millimeter, 2 millimeters, 5 millimeters, 10 millimeters, 20millimeters, 30 millimeters, 40 millimeters, 50 millimeters, 60millimeters, 70 millimeters, 80 millimeters, 90 millimeters, or 100millimeters. A layer of powder material may have a thickness of 0.1millimeters to 10 millimeters, 0.3 millimeters to 5 millimeters, 0.4millimeters to 2 millimeters, 0.5 millimeters to 1 millimeter. In somecases, a layer of powder material may have a thickness of about 100micrometers (um), 200 um, 300 um, 400 um, 500 um, 600 um, 700 um, 800um, 900 um, or 1000 um. In some cases, a layer of powder material mayhave a thickness of about 300 um. In some cases, a three-dimensionalobject may comprise more than one layer, wherein the thickness of eachof the powder layers may be the same, about the same, or different.

Binding Substance

A binding substance (e.g., a binder) may be used to bind individualpowder particles together. A binding substance may be applied to a layerof powder material to bind individual powder particles together. Thebinding substance may be a liquid, a gel, a viscous solution, or anycombination thereof. In some cases, a binding substance is a liquid.

The binding substance may be a sugar, a glue, a resin, a polymer, or acombination thereof. The binding substance may be sucrose, epoxy resin,Gorilla Glue, polyurethane, Liquid Nails, Super Glue, wood stain, nailpolish, or any combination thereof. A binding substance may comprise anorganic solvent, an aqueous solvent, or any combination thereof.

The binding substance may be purchased and used without alteration. Thebinding substance may be dilution to achieve certain properties suitablefor use in the formation of a three-dimensional object with a method ofthe current disclosure. In some cases, the solution may be diluted intoa dilution by a factor of at least about 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.7, 2, 5, 10,20, 50, 100, 200, or 500.

The binding substance may have a binding strength, bond strength,strength, adhesive strength, or tensile shear of greater than about 0.1pounds per square inch (psi), 1 psi, 5 psi, 10 psi, 50 psi, 100 psi, 200psi, 300 psi, 400 psi, 500 psi, 600 psi, 700 psi, 800 psi, 900 psi, 1000psi, 1500 psi, 2000 psi, 2500 psi, 3000 psi, 4000 psi, 5000 psi, ormore. In some cases, the binding substance may have a bond strength of100 psi to 3000 psi, 300 psi to 2500 psi, or 500 psi to 2000 psi.

The binding substance may have a viscosity of less than or equal toabout 1000 centipoise (cP), 900 cP, 800 cP, 700 cP, 600 cP, 500 cP, 400cP, 300 cP, 200 cP, 100 cP, 50 cP, 10 cP, 9 cP, 8 cP, 7 cP, 6 cP, 5 cP,4 cP, 3 cP, 2 cP, 1 cP, or less. The binding substance may have aviscosity of 1000 cP to 100 cP, 700 cP, to 200 cP, or 600 cP to 300 cP.

The binding substance may be stored in a container, a bottle, a cup, ora vessel.

When a binding substance (e.g., a binder) is applied to the surface of alayer of powder material, some of the binding substance may extendthrough the top layer of powder material through to the next layer ofpowder material. The binding substance may have a certain z-axispenetration depth or binder penetration depth. The z-axis penetrationdepth or binder penetration depth may be a result of depositiontechnique, bed heating, viscosity of the binding substance, or anycombination thereof. The z-axis penetration depth may be greater thanabout 1 micrometer, 5 micrometers, 10 micrometers, 50 micrometers, 100micrometers, 200 micrometers, 300 micrometers, 400 micrometers, 500micrometers, 600 micrometers, 700 micrometers, 800 micrometers, 900micrometers, 1 millimeter, 2 millimeters, 5 millimeters, 10 millimeters,20 millimeters, 30 millimeters, 40 millimeters, 50 millimeters, 60millimeters, 70 millimeters, 80 millimeters, 90 millimeters, 100millimeters, 200 millimeters, 300 millimeters, 400 millimeters, 500millimeters, 600 millimeters, 700 millimeters, 800 millimeters, 900millimeters, 1 meter, or more. In some cases, the z-axis penetrationdepth may be 10 micrometers to 400 micrometers, or 100 micrometers to200 micrometers. In some cases, the penetration depth of a bindingmaterial may be from 100 micrometers to 800 micrometers, 200 micrometersto 500 micrometers, or 300 micrometers to 500 micrometers. In somecases, the penetration depth of a binding material may be about 450micrometers.

When the binding substance is applied to a layer of powder material, thebinding substance may have a droplet size of less than 1000 micrometers,900 micrometers, 800 micrometers, 700 micrometers, 600 micrometers, 500micrometers, 400 micrometers, 300 micrometers, 200 micrometers, 100micrometers, 75 micrometers, 50 micrometers, 40 micrometers, 30micrometers, 20 micrometers, 10 micrometers, 5 micrometers, 3micrometers, 2 micrometers, or 1 micrometer. When the binding substanceis applied to a layer of powder material, the binding substance may havea droplet size of 1 micrometer to 700 micrometers, 2 micrometers to 600micrometers, 10 micrometer to 500 micrometers, or 100 micrometer to 200micrometers.

The binding substance may have a small droplet size of less than about10 micrometers, 5 micrometers, 3 micrometers, 2 micrometers, 1micrometer, 0.5 micrometers, 0.25 micrometers, or less. The bindingsubstance may have an average droplet size of about 1 micrometer. Thebinding substance may have an average droplet size of about 1-2micrometers.

When a binding substance (e.g., a binder) is applied to the surface of alayer of powder material, some of the binding substance may disturb ordisplace particles of powder material. The disturbance of powdermaterial, agglomeration of powder material, or cutting effect of bindingsubstance droplets on the surface of a layer of powder material may notbe desired. It may be desired to minimize agglomeration of powdermaterial during application of binding material. Using small droplets ofbinder material may mitigate the undesired effects of disturbance of apowder material on the surface of a layer of powder material.

Spray heads may be used to create the desired binding material dropletsize. Spray heads may be ultrasonic spray heads. When using anindustrial ultrasonic technology, the spray can be through a combinationof outlet cross section design and the use of a vacuum. The excess plumemay be captured by vacuum so as not to contaminate the rest of themachine. The use of an ultrasonic mist making system may be a costefficient alternative to using a commercial industrial ultrasonic sprayhead. Ultrasonic mist making systems can also be used for the creationof the droplets.

The three-dimensional object may be formed under atmospheric conditions.The apparatus may comprise a dehumidifier to control the amount ofhumidity present when the three-dimensional object is formed. The amountof humidity in the air may be at least about 0 grams per cubic meter(g/m³), 1 g/m³, 2 g/m³, 3 g/m³, 4 g/m³, 5 g/m³, 6 g/m³, 7 g/m³, 8 g/m³,9 g/m³, 10 g/m³, 15 g/m³, 20 g/m³, 25 g/m³, or 30 g/m³. The dehumidifiermay be part of the apparatus. Alternatively, the dehumidifier is not apart of the three-dimensional object printer. The dehumidifier may beautomatic and turn on or off according to set specifications orconditions. The dehumidifier may be at the apparatus level or may be ata room level in which the object is printed.

A three-dimensional object may have a height, a width, and a length,which may be the same or different. A three-dimensional object may havea height, a width, or a length that is, individually and independently,greater than about 0.1 millimeters, 0.5 millimeters, 1 millimeter, 2millimeters, 5 millimeters, 10 millimeters, 20 millimeters, 30millimeters, 40 millimeters, 50 millimeters, 60 millimeters, 70millimeters, 80 millimeters, 90 millimeters, 100 millimeters, 200millimeters, 300 millimeters, 400 millimeters, 500 millimeters, 600millimeters, 700 millimeters, 800 millimeters, 900 millimeters, 1 meter,or more. A three-dimensional object may have a height greater than about20 millimeters, 50 millimeters, 100 millimeters, 200 millimeters, 300millimeters, 400 millimeters, 500 millimeters, 600 millimeters, 700millimeters, 800 millimeters, 900 millimeters, 1 meter, 2 meters, 3meters, 5 meters, 10 meters, or more. A three-dimensional object mayhave a width greater than about 20 millimeters, 50 millimeters, 100millimeters, 200 millimeters, 300 millimeters, 400 millimeters, 500millimeters, 600 millimeters, 700 millimeters, 800 millimeters, 900millimeters, 1 meter, 2 meters, 3 meters, 5 meters, or 10 meters. Athree-dimensional object may have a length greater than about 20millimeters, 50 millimeters, 100 millimeters, 200 millimeters, 300millimeters, 400 millimeters, 500 millimeters, 600 millimeters, 700millimeters, 800 millimeters, 900 millimeters, 1 meter, 2 meters, 3meters, 5 meters, or 10 meters. In some cases, a three-dimensionalobject may have dimensions of about 1 m by 1 m by 1 m. In some cases, athree-dimensional object may have dimensions of about 500 millimeters by500 millimeters by 500 millimeters. In some cases, a three-dimensionalobject may have dimensions of about 200 millimeters by 200 millimetersby 200 millimeters.

Methods

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides methods for forming athree-dimensional object. FIG. 1 illustrates a flow process of athree-dimensional printing process. In some instances, a powder bed isprovided on a surface in operation 110. Next, a layer of powder materialis deposited adjacent to the surface to provide deposited layer inoperation 120. A binding substance is then applied to the layer ofpowder material in operation 130. The substrate may be cured inoperation 140.

FIGS. 2A-2C provide top-view schematics to illustrate a method offorming a three-dimensional object of the current disclosure. A layer ofpowder material 205 is provided in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2B illustrates an area210 of the layer of powder material that has been applied with a bindingsubstance. FIG. 2C illustrates a subsection 215 of area 210 that hasbeen heated and cured.

A layer of powder material may be deposited onto the powder bed via apowder dispenser. The powder dispenser may comprise multiple components,such as a print head or nozzle head. The distance between a component ofthe powder dispenser and the layer of powder material on the surface maybe at least 1 centimeter (cm), 5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, 50 cm,60 cm, 70 cm, 80 cm, 90 cm, 1 m, or more. The distance between acomponent of the powder dispenser and a layer of powder material maychange over the course of formation of the three-dimensional object. Insome cases, the distance between a component of the powder dispenser anda layer of powder material may decrease over the course of formation ofthe three-dimensional object.

The powder material may be stored in a reservoir or vessel of powdermaterial. The reservoir may hold at least about 10 grams (gr), 100 gr,200 gr, 500 gr, 750 gr, 1 kilogram (kg), 2 kg, 5 kg, 10 kg, or more ofpowder material.

The powder dispenser may dispense powder at an average rate of at leastabout 1 cubic millimeters per second (mm³/s), 5 mm³/s, 10 mm³/s, 100mm³/s, 500 mm³/s, 1000 mm³/s, 2000 mm³/s, 3000 mm³/s, 4000 mm³/s, 5000mm³/s, 6000 mm³/s, 7000 mm³/s, 8000 mm³/s, 9000 mm³/s, or 10,000 mm³/s.

A layer of powder material may be smoothed after deposition onto thepowder bed. The layer may be smoothed via a roller, a blade, a knife, agas knife or an air knife, a leveler, or any combination thereof. Insome cases, a layer of powder material is smoothed by a leveler afterdeposition onto the powder bed. A leveler may comprise a number ofmaterials, such as plastic, metal, metal alloys, glass, a ceramic, orany combination thereof.

The powder bed may be vibrated after deposition of a layer of powdermaterial by a vibrator apparatus. The vibrator apparatus may vibrate ata frequency of at least 20 Hertz (Hz), 30 Hz, 40 Hz, 50 Hz, 60 Hz, 70Hz, 80 Hz, 90 Hz, 100 Hz, 110 Hz, 120 Hz, 130 Hz, 140 Hz, 150 Hz, 160Hz, 170 Hz, 180 Hz, 190 Hz, 200 Hz, 210 Hz, 220 Hz, 230 Hz, 240 Hz, 250Hz, 260 Hz, 270 Hz, 280 Hz, 290 Hz, 300 Hz, 350 Hz, 400 Hz, 450 Hz, 500Hz, 550 Hz, 600 Hz, 700 Hz, 800 Hz, 900 Hz, or 1000 Hz.

A binding substance may be applied to a layer of powder material via aninkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, ultrasonic atomizer, an airnebulizer, an atomizer jet nebulizer, an ultrasonic nebulizer, acompressor based nebulizer, a vibrating mesh nebulizer, large droppers,micro-droppers, piezo droppers, or any combination thereof. In somecases, a binding substance is applied via an ultrasonic nebulizer, acompressor based nebulizer, or an ultrasonic sprayer. The bindingsubstance may be applied in a stream, in droplets, or any combinationthereof.

A binding substance may be applied to a layer of powder material at acertain flow rate from a container, print head, nozzle, or pump. In somecases, a binding substance may be applied at a flow rate of less than orabout 100 mL/s, 90 mL/s, 80 mL/s, 70 mL/s, 60 mL/s, 50 mL/s, 40 mL/s, 30mL/s, 20 mL/s, 10 mL/s, 9 mL/s, 8 mL/s, 7 mL/s, 6 mL/s, 5 mL/s, 4 mL/s,3 mL/s, 2 mL/s, or 1 mL/s.

A binding substance may be applied to an area of a layer of powdermaterial. The binding substance may be applied to an area of greaterthan about 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or 99% ofthe surface of the powder bed. In some cases, a binding substance isapplied to 5% to 90%, 10% to 80%, 30% to 70%, 40% to 60%, or 40% to 60%of the surface of the powder bed.

A stream comprising a binding substance may be applied to an area of alayer of powder material in a powder bed, wherein the stream has a firstcross-sectional dimension. An energy beam may be directed to a portionof a layer of powder material, wherein the energy beam has a secondcross-sectional dimension. In some embodiments, a first cross-sectionaldimensional of the stream is greater than a second cross-sectionaldimensional of the energy beam. A first cross-sectional dimensional canbe at least 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or 99%greater than the second cross-sectional dimensional.

The distance between a binding substance print head or nozzle head andthe layer of powder material on the surface may stay constant throughoutthe application of a single layer of binding substance. The distancebetween a binding substance print head or nozzle head and the layer ofpowder material on the surface may differ from one application of alayer to another application of a layer of binding substance. In somecases, the distance between the print head or nozzle head and the layerof powder material decreases as the number of layers of thethree-dimensional object increases. The distance between a bindingsubstance print head or nozzle head and the layer of powder material onthe surface may be at least 0.1 millimeters (mm), 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm, 5mm, 10 mm, 50 mm, 100 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, 400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm, 700mm, 800 mm, 900 mm, 1000 mm, or more.

When a layer of powder material is cured, only a subsection of the areato which a binding substance had been applied may be cured. A subsectionof the area to which a binding substance had been applied to may be atmost about 99%, 95%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, or 10% ofthe area. A subsection of an area may be less than about 100, 99%, 95%,90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, or 10% of the area. A subsectionof an area may be more than about 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%,80%, 90% or 99% of the area, but may not be 100% of the area. Thesubsection of an area that is cured may be less than the area itself. Insome cases, the subsection of the area is cured, wherein the subsectionis less than 100% of the area. In some cases, the subsection is lessthan 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, or 50% of the area.

A source of heat, electromagnetic radiation, or resistive heatingelement may be used to cure a subsection of an area of powder materialafter a binding substance has been applied. A laser, an oven, a furnace,energy beam, electron beam, a lamp, a heating rod, a radiator, or anycombination thereof, may be used to cure a powder material. In somecases, the source of heat used to cure an area of powder material is alaser or a heating rod. In situations in which the source of heat isoptical, the source of heat may provide energy to the powder beddirectly or through the use of one or more optics (e.g., mirror(s),lens(es), etc.).

A source of energy may be a laser or a plurality of lasers. Theplurality of lasers may be part of a laser array. The laser may providethe energy source to the power bed directly or through the use of one ormore optics (e.g., mirror(s), lens(es), etc.). In some cases, a lasercan provide light energy at a wavelength of at least 100 nanometers(nm), 500 nm, 1000 nm, 1010 nm, 1020 nm, 1030 nm, 1040 nm, 1050 nm, 1060nm, 1070 nm, 1080 nm, 1090 nm, 1100 nm, 1200 nm, 1500 nm, 1600 nm, 1700nm, 1800 nm, 1900 nm, or 2000 nm.

The source of energy may be applied to the layer of powder material at atemperature of atmospheric temperature or elevated temperature. Afterbinding substance is applied to a layer of powder material, the layer ofthe three-dimensional object may be cured by an energy source at atemperature of at least about 25° C., 30° C., 40° C., 50° C., 60° C.,70° C., 80° C., 90° C., 100° C., 110° C., 120° C., 130° C., 140° C.,150° C., 160° C., 170° C., 180° C., 190° C., 200° C., 300° C., 400° C.,500° C., 600° C., 700° C., 800° C., 900° C., 1000° C., 1100° C., 1200°C., 1300° C., 1400° C., 1500° C., 1600° C., 1700° C., 1800° C., 1900°C., or 2000° C. A layer may be cured at a temperature of greater than25° C., 30° C., 40° C., 50° C., 60° C., 70° C., 80° C., 90° C., 100° C.,110° C., 120° C., 130° C., 140° C., 150° C., 160° C., 170° C., 180° C.,190° C., 200° C., 300° C., 400° C., 500° C., 600° C., 700° C., 800° C.,900° C., 1000° C., 1100° C., 1200° C., 1300° C., 1400° C., 1500° C.,1600° C., 1700° C., 1800° C., 1900° C., or 2000° C. A layer may be curedat a temperature from 25° C. to 1000° C., from 50° C. to 500° C., from70° C. to 200° C., from 100° C. to 150° C. A three-dimensional objectmay be cured at a temperature from 25° C. to 1000° C., from 10° C. to700° C., from 100° C. to 600° C., from 300° C. to 500° C.

A rise in temperature may be sufficient to transform two or moreparticles of powder material into a molten state. The powder may remainmolten for at least 1 femtosecond, 50 femtoseconds, 100 femtoseconds, ormore.

A layer of the three-dimensional object may be formed or partiallyformed inside a confined space, or in a container. The confined spacemay comprise hydrogen, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, carbon dioxide, or anycombination thereof. In some cases, the level of oxygen in the confinedspace may less than 100,000 parts per million (ppm), 10,000 ppm, 1000ppm, 500 ppm, 400 ppm, 200 ppm, 100 ppm, 50 ppm, 10 ppm, 5 ppm, or 1ppm. The confined space may comprise water vapor. The amount of water inthe confined space may be less than 100,000 parts per million, 10,000ppm, 1000 ppm, 500 ppm, 400 ppm, 200 ppm, 100 ppm, 50 ppm, 10 ppm, 5ppm, or 1 ppm. The three-dimensional object may be formed or partiallyformed while exposed to the atmosphere. The atmosphere may comprisehydrogen, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, carbon dioxide, or any combinationthereof.

A three-dimensional object may be cured to allow infusion of a metal ora metal alloy. The infusion of a three-dimensional object may be withstainless steel, bronze, steel, gold, nickel, nickel steel, aluminum,titanium, or other transition metals or metal alloys.

A three-dimensional object may be cured at least once during theformation of the object. A three-dimensional object may be cured atleast 2 times, 3 times, 4 times, 5 times, 6 times, 7 times, 8 times, 9times, 10 times, 50 times, 100 times, 200 times, 500 times, 700 times,1000 times, or more during the formation of the object. Athree-dimensional object may be cured 1 to 1000 times, 10 to 700 times,100 to 500 times, or 200 to 400 times during the formation of theobject. A three-dimensional object may be cured 10 to 1000 times, 100 to700 times, 200 to 600 times, or 300 to 500 times during the formation ofthe object.

A layer of powder material of the three-dimensional object may be curedfor a period of time that is greater than about 0.1 seconds, 1 second,10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7 minutes, 8 minutes, 9 minutes, 10minutes 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours, 20 hours, 30hours, 40 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours, or more. A layer of powdermaterial of the three-dimensional object may be cured for a period oftime from 1 second to 10 hours, 20 seconds to 5 hours, 30 seconds to 3hours, 1 minute to 1 hour, 2 minutes to 30 minutes, or 3 minutes to 10minutes.

A three-dimensional object may be cured for a period of time that isgreater than about 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7 minutes, 8minutes, 9 minutes, 10 minutes 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, 10hours, 20 hours, 24 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours, 200hours, 300 hours, 400 hours, 500 hours, or more. A three-dimensionalobject may be cured for a period of time from 1 minute to 100 hours, 30minutes to 50 hours, 1 hour to 30 hours, or 2 hours to 24 hours.

A layer of powder material may be cured for a period of time greaterthan 10 seconds at a temperature greater than 25° C., greater than 30seconds at a temperature greater than 30° C., greater than 1 minute at atemperature greater than 50° C., greater than 2 minutes at a temperaturegreater than 100° C., greater than 30 minutes at a temperature greaterthan 200° C., greater than 1 hour at a temperature greater than 300° C.,greater than 2 hours at a temperature greater than 400° C., or greaterthan 3 hours at a temperature greater than 500° C.

A three-dimensional object may be polished, buffed, tumbled, machined,finished, or coated with a finish after curing. The object may be coatedwith paint, a metal polish, a gold polish, a silver polish, or anycombination thereof. The object may be polished, buffed, finished, orcoated at least 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, 5 times, or more.

A three-dimensional object may be formed in a period of at least about 1minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7minutes, 8 minutes, 9 minutes, 10 minutes 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours, 20 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours, 50hours, 75 hours, 4 days, 5 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or 4 weeks. Athree-dimensional object may be formed in a period of 1 minute to 50hours, 30 minutes to 30 hours, 1 hour to 20 hours, 2 hours to 10 hours,or 3 hours to 10 hours.

In some cases, the printing process, including application of layers ofpowder material and subsequent curing of each layer, may occupy a periodof time that is greater than about 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7 minutes, 8 minutes, 9minutes, 10 minutes 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours, 20hours, 30 hours, 40 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours, or more. The printingprocess may take an amount of time from 30 seconds to 10 hours, 1 minuteto 10 hours, 2 minutes to 5 hours, or 3 minutes to 3 hours.

A computer system or controller may be used in a method of the currentdisclosure to design a model of a three-dimensional object, to deposit alayer of powder material, to level a layer of powder material, to cure alayer of powder material, or any combination thereof. A computer systemmay be pre-programmed with information before the formation of theobject. A model design may be generated prior to the beginning offormation of the three-dimensional object, or the model design may begenerated in real time (i.e., during the process of formation of thethree-dimensional object). The model design may be generated on acomputer.

A model design may be used to determine the area or subsection of areaor powder material that is to be applied with binding substance.

In some cases, the three-dimensional object formed may have a deviationfrom the dimensions of the model design. The deviation of thethree-dimensional object formed and the model design may be at most 1cm, 9 mm, 8 mm, 7 mm, 6 mm, 5 mm, 4 mm, 3 mm, 2 mm, 1 mm, 90micrometers, 80 micrometers, 70 micrometers, 60 micrometers, 50micrometers, 40 micrometers, 30 micrometers, 20 micrometers, 10micrometers, 5 micrometers, or less.

Deviation may be present between the three-dimensional object formed andthe model design. An individual part of the three-dimensional object maydeviate from a corresponding part of the model design by at least about0.1%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or99%.

In some cases, the binding material is applied in accordance with amodel design of the 3D object. The nozzle from which the bindingsubstance is applied may deposit the binding substance in a spray orstream. The spread or stream may have a spread that may be characterizedby a spot size. The spot size may be greater than a correspondingdimension of the model design. In some cases, the spray or stream has afull width at half maximum that is greater than a correspondingdimension of the model design. In some examples, the spray or streamapplies the binding substance to a greater area of the powder bed ascompared to the corresponding dimension of the model design.

In some cases, a first area of a layer of powdered material is appliedwith a binding substance. The first area may deviate from thecorresponding portion of the model design of the three-dimensionalobject, where the first area is at least 0.1%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 10%,20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 99%, or larger than thecorresponding portion of the model design. In some cases, the deviationis 1% to 90, 5% to 80%, 10% to 70%, 20% to 60%, or 30% to 50%.

The model design may comprise 1 to 1000 cross-sections (or slices), 10to 700 cross-sections, 100 to 500 cross-sections, or 200 to 400cross-sections of the object. The model design may comprise 10 to 1000cross-sections, 100 to 700 cross-sections, 200 to 600 cross-sections, or300 to 500 cross-sections of the three-dimensional object. The modeldesign may include at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 100, 1000,10,000, 50,000, or 100,000 cross-sections. Such cross-sections (orslices) may be generated by 3D printing software.

The heating of a subsection of an area may comprise sintering ofindividual particles of the powder material. The heating of a subsectionof an area may not comprise sintering of individual particles of thepowder material.

After a subsection of an area of a layer of powder material is cured,the unbounded powder material may be dispersed from the bounded powdermaterial. The unbounded powder material may be dispersed by removal ofthe unbounded powder, by a vacuum, by suction, by dusting, by shaking ofthe surface that comprises the powder bed, by shaking of the containerthan comprises the powder bed, or any combination thereof.

In some cases, the subsection of an area of a layer of powder materialthat corresponds to the model design of the corresponding cross-sectionis not cured. In some cases, the perimeter of the subsection isgenerated mechanically, generated with an air knife, generated with aknife, heated, burned, decompose, or otherwise removed. In one aspect,the present disclosure provides a method for forming a three-dimensionalobject, comprising: providing a surface comprising a powder bedcomprising powder material; applying a first binding substance to afirst area of a first layer of powder material of the powder bed;generating one or more perimeters of the first layer of powder materialvia one or more cutting passes, wherein the one or more perimeters ofthe first layer is in accordance to a model design of thethree-dimensional object; depositing a second layer of powder materialadjacent to the first layer of powder material in the container;applying a second binding substance to a second area of a second layerof powder material of the powder bed; and generating one or moreperimeters of the second layer of powder material via one or morecutting passes, wherein the one or more perimeters of the second layeris in accordance to a model design of the three-dimensional object. Insome cases, the method of forming the three-dimensional object maycomprise one cutting pass. The method may comprise two, three, four,five, or more cutting passes.

In some cases, the entire perimeter of a first layer of powder materialis formed by one cutting pass. In some cases, the entire perimeter of afirst layer of powder material is generated by one or more cuttingpasses. In some cases, the entire perimeter of a second layer of powdermaterial is formed by one cutting pass. In some cases, the entireperimeter of a second layer of powder material is generated by two ormore cutting passes.

In some cases, the entire perimeter of a first layer and a second layeris generated by one cutting pass. In some cases, the entire perimeter ofa first layer and a second layer is generated by two or more cuttingpasses. In some cases, at least a part of a perimeter of a first layeris generated by one cutting pass. In some cases, at least a part of aperimeter of more than one layer is generated by a single cutting pass.In some cases, at least a part of a perimeter of more than one layer isgenerated by one or more cutting passes.

FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate a method of forming a three-dimensional objectusing a layering technique of having a large layer thickness and a finecutting thickness. To form the object of FIG. 3A, multiple layers ofpowder material with a large layer thickness 305 of FIG. 3B may beapplied. Multiple, fine cutting passes with a cutting thickness 310 ofFIG. 3C may be made to generate a high resolution final part FIG. 3D.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate a method of forming a three-dimensional objectusing a layering technique of having a large layer thickness and a largecutting thickness. To form the object of FIG. 4A, multiple layers ofpowder material with a large layer thickness 405 of FIG. 4B may beapplied. One cutting passes with a cutting thickness 410 of FIG. 4C maybe made to generate a the final part FIG. 4D.

FIGS. 5A-5D schematically illustrate a method of forming athree-dimensional object using a layering technique of having a largelayer thickness and a combination of fine and large cutting thicknesses.To form the object of FIG. 5A, multiple layers of powder material with alarge layer thickness 505 of FIG. 5B may be applied. Multiple, finecutting passes with a cutting thickness 510 and one large cutting passwith a cutting thickness 515 of FIG. 5C may be made to generate a thefinal part FIG. 5D.

A perimeter of a layer of powder material may be generated mechanically.In some cases, a perimeter may be generated with a multi-axis (e.g., 2,3, 4, or 5-axis) machine tool, a Computer Numeric Control (CNC) spindle,a cutting tool bit, or a blade. The machine tool may be multi-axisrobot. The machine tool may be movable relative to a support on whichthe three-dimensional object is generated. As an alternative, thesupport may be movable and the machine tool may be stationary. Asanother alternative, both the machine tool and the support may bemovable relative to each other, such as along multiple axes.

A CNC spindle may rotate at a certain speed that may be dependent on thedesired cutting properties. In some embodiments, a cutting tool or a CNCspindle may have a rotation per minute (rpm) of at least about 500 rpm,1,000 rpm, 10,000 rpm, 50,000 rpm, 75,000 rpm or 100,000 rpm. Thefrequency of rotation around a fixed axis may be from about 500 rpm to100,000 rpm, about 1,000 to 75,000 rpm, or about 10,000 rpm to 50,000rpm.

The cutting tools of an apparatus may be changed manually or may bechanged with an automatic tool changer. In some cases, an object mayutilize multiple cutting tools to speed up the printing process. In somecases, only 1 spindle is used for one powder bed. In some cases,multiple spindles are used for one powder bed. In some cases, an objectmay utilize at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or more cutting tools(e.g., spindles) to speed up the printing process. FIG. 33 illustratesan example in which multiple spindles are used for a single powder bed.

Thus, an automatic tool changer may programed automatically change outthe cutting tools based on the parameters set and/or the specificationsof the desired printed object.

FIGS. 6A-6D schematically illustrate a method of forming athree-dimensional object using a layering technique of having a largelayer thickness and a large cutting thickness using an aligned cuttingpass. To form the object of FIG. 6A, multiple layers of powder materialwith a large layer thickness 605 of FIG. 6B may be applied. One largecutting passes with a cutting thickness 610 of FIG. 6C may be madegenerated with one aligned cutting pass to form the final part FIG. 6D.

A cut strategy may be developed for the formation of a three-dimensionalobject described herein.

A cut strategy may be based on an entire slice of the three-dimensionalobject.

The desired 3D object is outlined in FIG. 12. Multiple slices form alayer, wherein the layers of the object are labeled numerically. If theslope in any portion (or triangles in an STL) in a slice is down-facing,an entire slice may be characterized as “DOWN”. Similarly, if the slopein any portion of a slice is up-facing and there is no down-facingportion, an entire slice may be characterized as “UP”. If the slope inan entire slice is vertical, the slice may be characterized as “2.5D”.If vertically adjacent slices, features, and/or surfaces are all “UP”and/or “2.5D”, the cut order can be optimized. In the example of FIG.12, slice thickness is much less than layer thickness. In FIG. 12, eachlayer is represented with a designation of “UP”, “DOWN”, “2.5D” for allslices. A single cutting pass is made after Layer 1, and a singlecutting pass is made after Layer 2. Several cutting passes are made forLayer 3 to obtain a more refined slope. A single cutting pass is madefor the remaining layers.

When cutting a three-dimensional object, it may be beneficial tominimize stair stepping to produce a desired physical dimension of theobject. The layer thickness may be chosen to equal to the slicethickness, and a step of cutting the layer may occur after every layeris spread and sprayed. Alternatively, if the layering effect is not anissue, the layer sizes and/or cutting thickness may be made larger tooptimize for speed.

FIG. 14 illustrates the multiple possibilities to form athree-dimensional object using a layering technique. As area 1415 has avertical region, the region is cut using one cutting pass. Area 1410 hasa slope that is up-facing. This 1410 region, represented by 10 slices,is cut after each layer. Area 1405 has a slope that is down-facing. This1405 region, comprising 1 slice, is cut with one cutting pass. The layerthickness may be altered and chosen based on the shape of the desired 3Dobject and the desired speed at which the object is formed.

A cut strategy may be based on a feature of the three-dimensionalobject.

A feature may be a geometric subsection of the three-dimensional object.A feature can be represented by a loop or loops within a given layer.For an STL file, loops may describe the intersection of a specific planewith all of the triangles (or polygons) that straddle that plane. FIG.15 illustrates a triangulated digital model as a stereolithography (STL)file. FIG. 16 illustrates the triangle intersections for a given sliceof the model of FIG. 15. For a vertical cylindrical feature, such as thevertical column, the plane intersection is a circle. FIG. 17 illustratesthe associated loops for that layer for further clarification.

FIG. 18 illustrates the object of FIG. 15, where each layer isdesignated and labeled as “UP”, “DOWN”, or “2.5D”. Layers 1805 and 1810are designated as “DOWN”, whereas the remaining layers are designated as“UP”. Alternatively, the object of FIG. 15 may be designated differentlyto further optimize the manufacture of the object. As shown in FIG. 19,given slices or layers may be identified differently. For example, 1905may be labeled as “DOWN”, but 1910 may now be designated as “2.5D”. Thisway, it may be possible to cut the rest of the layer (or slices) moreincrementally, while deferring the cutting of the column features of1910 until several layers have been sprayed and spread. In this andother examples, loops may be described as belonging to the same featureif they share triangles. Similarly, if adjacent loops in differentslices intersect the same triangle, then they may share the samefeature.

A cut strategy may be based on a surface of the three-dimensionalobject. A surface may be a geometric sub-section of a feature of athree-dimensional object. For a given slice, a surface can berepresented by a single line segment or set of line segments within agiven loop. A surface 2005 is illustrated in FIG. 20. Classification ofsurface may be utilized for cut thickness and order determination.Sections of a given feature may be categorized differently (e.g., somesurfaces are “2.5D” and some are “DOWN”).

FIG. 21 illustrates a way of classifying a surface of the desired objectto optimize cut order. Slice 2105 is categorized as “DOWN” while 2110 iscategorized as “2.5D”.

FIGS. 22A-22C illustrate one approach to slices or layers of athree-dimensional product. For a given CAD model, the model (FIG. 22A)may be sliced with a defined thickness, illustrated in FIG. 22B, andthen each slice may be translated into a layer. Each layer may then bebuilt one at a time in the respective machine for product the resultingobject of FIG. 22C.

FIGS. 23A-23C illustrate an alternative approach to slices or layers ofa three-dimensional product. For a given CAD model, the model (FIG. 23A)may be sliced with a defined thickness, illustrated in FIG. 23B, andthen each slice may be translated into a layer. Each layer may then bebuilt one at a time in the respective machine for product. All thelayers may be cut in a single pass with a cutting tool 2305 to producethe resulting object of FIG. 23C, with added resolution when compared tothe object of FIG. 22C. The layers are cut out of plane, eliminating theneed for horizontal layers. This approach of cutting multiple layers atonce with a 3-axis or 5-axis machine may eliminate the need for stairstepping, and may eliminate the visibility of layers in the resultingobject.

A cutting tool or a cutting bit may have a diameter of at least about 1um, 10 um, 100 um, 250 um, 500 um, 750 um, or 1000 um. In some cases, acutting bit may have a diameter of about 500 um. The cutting tool orcutting bit may leave a width in the powder material, or a particularparting line spacing.

A cutting tool or a cutting bit may have a hatch cut speed of at leastabout 1 mm/min, 10 mm/min, 100 mm/min, 200 mm/min, 300 mm/min, 400mm/min, 500 mm/min, 600 mm/min, 700 mm/min, 800 mm/min, 900 mm/min, 1000mm/min, 1250 mm/min, 1500 mm/min, 1750 mm/min, or 2000 mm/min.

The speed at which a boundary of a layer of powder material is cut maybe at least about 1 mm/min, 10 mm/min, 100 mm/min, 200 mm/min, 300mm/min, 400 mm/min, 500 mm/min, 600 mm/min, 700 mm/min, 800 mm/min, 900mm/min, 1000 mm/min, 1250 mm/min, 1500 mm/min, 1750 mm/min, or 2000mm/min.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: providing a surface comprising apowder bed comprising powder material; applying a first bindingsubstance to a first area of a first layer of powder material of thepowder bed; depositing a second layer of powder material adjacent to thefirst layer of powder material in the container; applying a secondbinding substance to a second area of a second layer of powder materialof the powder bed; and generating one or more perimeters of the firstlayer and the second layer of powder material via one or more cuttingpasses, wherein the one or more perimeters of the first layer and thesecond layer is in accordance to a model design of the three-dimensionalobject.

A method for forming a three-dimensional object, comprising: providing asurface comprising a powder bed comprising powder material; applying afirst binding substance to a first area of a first layer of powdermaterial of the powder bed; depositing a second layer of powder materialadjacent to the first layer of powder material in the container;applying a second binding substance to a second area of a second layerof powder material of the powder bed; and generating one or moreperimeters of the first layer and the second layer of powder materialvia one or more cutting passes, wherein the perimeter of the first layeris determined by but is not equivalent to a model design of the firstlayer of the three-dimensional object. In some cases, the perimeter ofthe first layer of powder material is half a layer shifted from thedesign of the first layer of the three-dimensional object.

A binding substance that is applied to a layer of powder material mayhave a certain penetration depth into the powder material. In somecases, the penetration depth of the binding substance is about equal tothe thickness of the layer (or layer thickness) of powder material. Insome cases, the penetration depth of the binding substance is less thanthe thickness of the layer of powder material. In some cases, thepenetration depth of the binding substance is more than the thickness ofthe layer of powder material. This may ensure that the layers of powdermaterial adhere to one another.

A cutting pass may be used to generate a perimeter around a first layerof powder material. In some cases, the depth of the cutting pass (orcutting thickness) may be about equal to the penetration depth of thebinding substance into the powder material. In some cases, the depth ofthe cutting pass may be less than the penetration depth of the bindingsubstance into the powder material. In some cases, the depth of thecutting pass may be more than the penetration depth of the bindingsubstance into the powder material.

In some cases, a perimeter generated around a layer of powder materialmay be vertical to the powder bed. In some cases, the perimetergenerated around a layer of powder material is not vertical to thepowder bed. A perimeter may be generated with a multi-axis (e.g.,5-axis) machine tool. The multi-axis machine tool can cut the powder bedat an angle of about 0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 70°, 80°, or 90°in relation to the surface of the powder bed.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for forming athree-dimensional object, comprising: a powder dispenser that dispensesa powder material to form a first layer of the powder material adjacentto a powder bed, and that dispenses a powder material to form a secondlayer of the powder material adjacent to the first layer; a powder bed;and a cutting tool that generates one or more perimeters of the firstlayer of powder material, wherein the perimeter of the first layer isdetermined by but is not equivalent to a model design of the first layerof the three-dimensional object.

The unbounded powder may be deposited to an external reservoir. Theunbounded powder may be used in future uses, such as formation of otherthree-dimensional objects.

A guidance system or a guiding belt may be used to guide the CNCspindle, the masked spray system, or other components of the set-up. Insome embodiments, the guidance system may be a belt, a loop, a wire, atrack, or a computer system.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B schematically illustrate a sample set-up for forminga three-dimensional object. FIG. 7A depicts a powder bed 710 present ona support. A guidance system 705 may be used to guide a Computer NumericControl (CNC) 715 spindle to make the cut in a layer of powder material.FIG. 7B is a side-profile of the set-up, wherein CNC spindle 715 ispresent to cut into a layer of powder material.

FIG. 8 is a side-profile view of a sample spray system that may be usedin the formation of a three-dimensional object of the currentdisclosure. A hydraulic spray head 805 and connector 810 connect to apressure pot that allows a fine mist of binder to be sprayed on a powderbed. Other parts of the spray system may include a spray mask 815 toonly allow certain regions of spray to pass through and come intocontact with the powder material, spray system cleaning station 820,vacuum line for mask cleaning 825, and vacuum line for plume capture830.

FIG. 9A is a bottom view of the sample spray system of FIG. 8. FIG. 9Bis a cross-section of the sample spray system of FIG. 8. A plume vacuumorifice 905 is built into the system, a spray reservoir 910 holds anybinder material until it is ready to be sprayed onto a powder material,and a vacuum cleaning docking station 915 may be used for simultaneouscleaning of excess large droplets in the system, including the spraymask and spray head.

FIG. 10 illustrates a heating system that may be used to cure a layer ofa three-dimensional object, wherein spreader 1005 spread the powdermaterial onto the powder bed and the cartridge heater 1010 cures thebinder that was recently applied. Different types of heaters atdifferent powers may be used. A heater may have a power level of atleast about 1 watt (W), 10 W, 100 W, 500 W, 1000 W, 2000 W, 3000 W, 4000W, 5000 W, 6000 W, 7000 W, 8000 W, 9000 W, or more.

FIG. 26 illustrates a schematic ultrasonic mist generator system 2635.At least one ultrasonic transducer is submerged a specific distanceunder the surface of the binder fluid contained in the binder tank 2610.The binder fill reservoir 2620 sits above the system. The height orlevel of the fluid can be controlled with a float valve 2615 and 2630and the level is maintained with a fill reservoir above the binder tank.When the transducers are powered, the small droplets are generated. Afan 2625 is controlled by PWM to regulate the flow of the droplets intothe spray outlet 2605. The outlet hose of system 2635 may be corrugatedtubing or smooth bore.

A binding substance applicator may be a spray outlet, or spray headmodule. A spray outlet or spray head module may be a number of differentshapes. A spray outlet may have a round, oval oblong, square,rectangular, triangular, or other shapes. The shape of a spray outletmay be varied based on the desired dimensions and structure of theresulting three-dimensional object. The spray outlet may span the widthof the powder tank. Alternatively, the spray outlet may be smaller thanthe width or length of the powder tank. The spray outlet or spray headmodule may have dimensions of at least about 1 millimeter (mm), 2 mm, 5mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm, 100mm, 150 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, 400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm, 700 mm, 800 mm, 900mm, 1000 mm, or more. An apparatus may have a number of spray outlets orspray head modules. An apparatus may have at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, or more spray outlets.

The spray outlet, or spray head module, may be tilted at an anglerelative to the layer of powder material. The spray outlet may bedirectly above the layer of powder material (e.g., at an angle of 0°relative to the layer of powder material), or the spray outlet may be atan angle of at least about 1°, 2°, 3°, 4°, 5°, 6°, 7°, 8°, 9°, 10°, 15°,20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, 40°, 45°, 50°, 60°, 70°, 80°, or more, relative tothe layer of powder material.

FIGS. 27A-27B illustrate two potential spray patterns that may be usedwhen directing binding material towards a layer of powder material on apowder bed. FIG. 27A illustrates one potential spray pattern system. Acircular spray outlet, such as outlet 2605 from FIG. 26, may be circularin shape. The direction of spray is in the y direction. The circularspray outlet directs binding material towards a layer of powder materialin 2705. Binding material permeates through the powder material in acolumn in 2710, where more binding material is present in the middle ofthe column when compared to the sides of the column. This effect may bedesired.

FIG. 27B illustrates another potential spray pattern system. Arectangular spray outlet may be used, wherein binding material isdirected towards a layer of powder material in 2720. The direction ofspray is in the y direction. Binding material is directly evenly to thepowder material in a column in 2725, wherein binding material permeatesthrough the powder material in an even column. This effect may bedesired.

A vacuum may be present in an apparatus of the current disclosure. Avacuum may capture all excess spray plum that escapes the mask. Thevacuum may prevent excess plume from escaping and settling over otherparts of the apparatus. Unwanted settling of excess binding material maylead to undesired effects. The vacuum may help direct the flow, speed,and uniformity of the spray of binding material. The vacuum may create avortex above the powder material layer.

The vacuum may control the direction and velocity of the bindingmaterial spray as it exits the spray mask. The vacuum strength may bevaried. The vacuum strength may be at most about 759 torr, 750 torr, 700torr, 650 torr, 600 torr, 550 torr, 500 torr, 450 torr, 400 torr, 350torr, 300 torr, 250 torr, 200 torr, 100 torr, 50 torr, 1 torr, or lower.

The shape of the vacuum mask or vacuum orifice may be a number ofdifferent shapes. A vacuum mask may have a round, oval oblong, square,rectangular, triangular, or other shapes. The vacuum may be fixed at acertain distance from the powder bed, or may vary during the course ofsynthesizing the three-dimensional object. The vacuum may be at leastabout 1 mm, 2 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm,80 mm, 90 mm, 100 mm, 150 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, 400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm,700 mm, 800 mm, 900 mm, 1000 mm, or more from the powder bed. In somecases, turbulent flow may occur and may depend on the distance of thevacuum from the powder bed. A vortex of binder spray may be present andmay depend on the distance of the vacuum from the powder bed. The vortexof binder spray may be advantageous for binder application, and mayincrease application speed. Vacuum power may also be varied with athrottling valve. Vacuum power may also be varied by opening up a vacuumline and not enclosing the entire suction area.

FIG. 28 illustrates an apparatus with a vacuum directly behind (thespray mask). In this figure, the spray plume will exit the spray mask2810 and contact the powder in 2815 and travel in the y positivedirection. If the vacuum mask 2805 is on, the binding material plume maytravel along the powder surface in the direction of the vacuum (ynegative direction) until it is pulled into the vacuum.

FIG. 29 illustrates a spray module with vacuum assisted spray.Rectangular to circular spray adapter 2925 is from the binder tank.Rectangular to circular vacuum adapter 2905 connects to a vacuum tube.Arrows illustrate the direction of plume spray, as initially from thebinder tank through adapter 2925 and finally out through the vacuumadapter 2905 toward the vacuum. Columns 2930, 2935, and 2910 are onemethod of controlling Y and Z spacing between the spray and vacuum. Theextended length may be used to create uniform spray plume distributionacross the new cross section. Spray mask 2940 and spray mask outlet 2945are used to prevent excess plume from escaping in the X direction, andalso to direct spray onto the powder bed. A wall 2920 may prevent excessplume from traveling forward in the positive Y direction. An angledspray outlet may help direct the spray toward the vacuum. An intentionalspace 2915 is left to alter the vacuum profile, including vacuum power.

It may be desired to have uniform spray material travel from the bindertank or spray outlet to the spray mask outlet. FIG. 30 illustrates onemethod in which a uniform flow may be achieved. A cross-section 3005 isshown to have a honeycomb structure path that may be used to ensure anevenly distributed flow. The structure within column 2910 may be made upof circular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, or hexagonal tubes, suchas in a honeycomb shape. The structure within the column may occupy atleast about 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or 100% of thevolume of the column.

The length of column 2910 may be used to give the plume time anddistance to spread out from the spray outlet to the spray mask. In somecases, the length of a column between the binder tank and the spray maskmay be at least about 1 millimeter (mm), 2 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, 30mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm, 100 mm, 150 mm, 200 mm,300 mm, 400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm, 700 mm, 800 mm, 900 mm, 1000 mm, ormore.

The outlet hose of a mist generator system (e.g., ultrasonic mistgenerator system) may have a diameter of at least about 1 mm, 2 mm, 5mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm, 100mm, 150 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, 400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm, 700 mm, 800 mm, 900mm, 1000 mm, or more.

The fan of the mist generator system (e.g., ultrasonic mist generatorsystem) may have a diameter of at least about 1 millimeter (mm), 2 mm, 5mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm, 100mm, 150 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, 400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm, 700 mm, 800 mm, 900mm, 1000 mm, or more.

The air flow speed within the fan of a mist generator system (e.g.,ultrasonic mist generator system) may be varied. The air flow speed maybe at least about 0.01 meters cubed per second (m³/s), 0.1 m³/s, 1 m³/s,2 m³/s, 3 m³/s, 4 m³/s, 5 m³/s, 6 m³/s, 7 m³/s, 8 m³/s, 9 m³/s, 10 m³/s,15 m³/s, 20 m³/s, 30 m³/s, 40 m³/s, 50 m³/s, 60 m³/s, 70 m³/s, 80 m³/s,90 m³/s, 100 m³/s, or more.

The amount of power needed to power a mist generator system (e.g.,ultrasonic mist generator system) may be at least about 1 watt (W), 2 W,3 W, 4 W, 5 W, 10 W, 25 W, 50 W, 75 W, 100 W, 200 W, 300 W, 400 W, 500W, 600 W, 700 W, 800 W, 900 W, 1 kilowatt (kW), 2 kW, 3 kW, 4 kW, 5 kW,6 kW, 7 kW, 8 kW, 9 kW, 10 kW, 20 kW, 30 kW, 40 kW, 50 kW, 60 kW, 70 kW,80 kW, 90 kW, 100 kW, or more. A transducer may be used to convertenergy from one form to another within the mist generator system.

FIG. 11 illustrates a cutting system or system set-up that may be usedfor the formation of a three-dimensional object and also for the removalof excess material during the formation of a three-dimensional object. Apressure pot 1115 is connected to the control valve 1120 that controlsthe pressure of the system. The control valve 1120 is connected to themasked spray system 1125 that sprays the powder bed or powder materialwith a binder. The plume vacuum line 1105 removes any excess binder thatis not utilized in the spraying process. A CNC spindle 1110 is used toremove any excess material during the cutting and formation of thelayers or material or the three-dimensional object.

In some cases, after a certain number of layers of powder material havebeen applied and cured, the container or box comprising the powder bedmay be placed in a heated environment, such as an oven, to cure. Thecontainer or box may be heated to a temperature of at least about 25°C., 30° C., 40° C., 50° C., 60° C., 70° C., 80° C., 90° C., 100° C.,110° C., 120° C., 130° C., 140° C., 150° C., 160° C., 170° C., 180° C.,190° C., 200° C., 300° C., 400° C., 500° C., 600° C., 700° C., 800° C.,900° C., 1000° C., or more.

The container or box may be heated for a time period of at least about 1minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7minutes, 8 minutes, 9 minutes, 10 minutes 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5hours, 10 hours, 20 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours, ormore.

Different heating elements may be used when manufacturing an object. Aquartz tube heating element may be used. In some cases, at least 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more quartz tube heating elements are usedduring the formation of an object. A greater number of heating elementsmay speed up the curing process. The quartz tube heating element mayhave power of at least about 100 watt (W), 200 W, 300 W, 400 W, 500 W,600 W, 700 W, 800 W, 900 W, 1000 W, 1500 W, 1800 W, 2000 W, 3000 W, 4000W, 5000 W, or more.

The amount moisture in the container or box may decrease after curing.The amount of water in the container or box may be less than about100,000 ppm, 10,000 ppm, 1000 ppm, 500 ppm, 400 ppm, 200 ppm, 100 ppm,50 ppm, 10 ppm, 5 ppm, or 1 ppm.

After each cross-section of the three-dimensional object has beenlayered and cured, the entire three-dimensional object may be cured asecond time. The object may be placed in a second container or box, andthe container or box may be filled with larger or ceramic grits, such asaluminum oxide grit. The large ceramic grits may have a mesh size of atleast about 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100, 140, 200,230, 270, 325, 400, 625, 1250, or 2500.

Metal powder may be added to the second container or box for infusion ofthe metal powder into the three-dimensional object.

The second container or box may be heated to a temperature of at least25° C., 30° C., 40° C., 50° C., 60° C., 70° C., 80° C., 90° C., 100° C.,110° C., 120° C., 130° C., 140° C., 150° C., 160° C., 170° C., 180° C.,190° C., 200° C., 300° C., 400° C., 500° C., 600° C., 700° C., 800° C.,900° C., 1000° C., or more for a period of time of at least about 1minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7minutes, 8 minutes, 9 minutes, 10 minutes 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5hours, 10 hours, 20 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours, ormore.

The three-dimensional object may have a roughness average (Ra) of 0.025,005, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.3, 12.5, 25, or 50 micrometers. Thethree-dimensional object may have a roughness (N) of N1, N2, N3, N4, N5,N6, N7, N8, N9, N10, N11, or N12 grade number. The three-dimensionalobject may have a density of at least about 1 gram/centimeter cubed(g/cm³), 2 g/cm³, 3 g/cm³, 4 g/cm³, 5 g/cm³, 6 g/cm³, 7 g/cm³, 8 g/cm³,9 g/cm³, 10 g/cm³, 15 g/cm³, 20 g/cm³, or more. The three-dimensionalobject may have a density of at least about 7 g/cm³.

In some cases, the methods described herein may be fully automatedprocesses. In some cases, the methods described herein may not be fullyautomated processes and may require a worker.

The methods, apparatuses, and systems of the present disclosure may beused to form three-dimensional objects that may be used for various usesand applications. In some cases, uses and applications include, but arenot limited to, machines, parts of machines, car parts, implants, hardtissue, soft tissue, fashion items, clothing, jewelry, home decorations,electronics, or electrical components.

A computer may be used to regulate and control various aspects of themethods of the present disclosure, such as, for example, methods ofproducing the three-dimensional object, including, but not limited to,the movement of the powder bed, movement of a powder materialapplicator, movement of a binding material applicator, a cutting unit, aheating unit, and a laser unit.

A computer may include machine instructions to generate tool path basedon computer numerical control. The computer may convert a designproduced by computer aided design (CAD) software into numbers. Thesenumbers may control the movement of a printer with respect to spraying,cutting, heating, and all other electromechanical functions.

The computer may include machine instructions to perform geometriccompensations based on statistical scaling. The computer may scale theoriginal design produced by CAD software to compensate for sinteringshrinkage. The computer may use a machine learning algorithm, such as agenetic learning algorithm. This may involve several trials to determinethe proper compensations.

In tool path generation, an input may be a STereoLithography (STL) file,which is a standard file for 3D printing. In some cases, the file maycomprise data of triangular mesh. Output of the tool path generation maybe file in a GCode format, which is a control language for CNC machines.The GCode may be a way to tell the machine to move to various points ata desired speed, control the spindle speed and turn on and off variousprinter functions (spray, heat, etc). Examples of parameters for toolpath generation include, but not limited to, tools size (e.g., diameterof the cutting bit), X scale factor (e.g., part scaling in theX-direction), Y scale factor (e.g., part scaling in the Y-direction), Zscale factor (e.g., part scaling in the Z-direction), layer thickness,penetration depth (e.g., the distance that the sprayed binder willpenetrate in the Z-direction), parting line spacing (e.g., parting linespacing describes the horizontal and vertical grid spacing for theparting lines), hatch spacing (e.g., describes the tool path offset whenhatching a layer), hatch cut speed (e.g., the XY speed at which thespindle moves while making the hatched cuts within a layer), boundarycut speed (e.g., the XY speed at which the spindle moves while makingthe boundary cut), move speed (e.g., the speed at which the spindlemoves when it is not cutting), number of cuts per layer (e.g., thenumber of passes the cutting tool makes in order to cut through theentire “penetration depth;” for example, 3 cutting depths of 150 um maycomprise the entire 450 um), depth of each cut (e.g., the depth of eachcut made, in consideration of the “number of cuts per layer”),resolution of GCode (e.g., the distance between points in for a givenlayer in the GCode), and the first layer thickness.

Some implementations may consider the penetration depth to be greaterthan the layer thickness. Subsequent layers may stick to each other.However, it may create a problem in that the over-penetration can ruinthe previous layer. While in the XY plane, the technologies describedherein may make a “fine pass” to define an edge precisely. In addition,if considering cutting the contour of the part for each layer, there maybe no way to physically separate the part from the surroundings. Thetechnologies described herein may employ a fundamentally new way tocreate tool paths through layer shifting. Step 1: The total cuttingdepth for a layer may equal the penetration depth, not the layerthickness. Step 2: The first layer height may be the height of thepenetration depth. Step 3: The shape and size of the previous and nextlayers may be considered when cutting the current layer. The currentcutting path may overlap the previous cutting path and the next cuttingpath. A cut may be created into the previous layer shape region,effectively shifting all the layers down by half a layer. Step 4: Thefinal layer tool path may cover the entire area of the contour

Some implementations may employ the following algorithm. A cut away area(A_(CA)) for a given current layer may be computed as:A_(CA)=A_(BO)+A_(N-O)+A_(P-O), where A_(BO) (Boundary Offset Area)describes the following boolean subtraction: A_(BO)=A_(Off)−A_(O);A_(Off) describes the area of the current layer with the included tooloffset and A_(O) describes the original current layer area; A_(N-O)describes the following Boolean subtraction: A_(N-C)=A_(N)−A_(O); A_(N)describes the area of the next layer; A_(P-O) describes the followingBoolean subtraction: A_(P-O)=A_(P)−A_(O); where A_(P) describes the areaof the previous layer. This algorithm may be implemented by way ofmachine-executable code executed by one or more computer processors.

Computer Control Systems

The present disclosure provides computer control systems that areprogrammed to implement methods of the disclosure. FIG. 32 shows acomputer control system 3201 that is programmed or otherwise configuredto produce a three-dimensional object. The computer control system 3201can regulate various aspects of the methods of the present disclosure,such as, for example, methods of producing the three-dimensional object,including, but not limited to, the movement of the powder bed, movementof a powder material applicator, movement of a binding substanceapplicator, a cutting tool, and a heating tool. The computer controlsystem 3201 can be implemented on an electronic device of a user or acomputer system that is remotely located with respect to the electronicdevice. The electronic device can be a mobile electronic device.

The computer system 3201 includes a central processing unit (CPU, also“processor” and “computer processor” herein) 3205, which can be a singlecore or multi core processor, or a plurality of processors for parallelprocessing. The computer control system 3201 also includes memory ormemory location 3210 (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory,flash memory), electronic storage unit 3215 (e.g., hard disk),communication interface 3220 (e.g., network adapter) for communicatingwith one or more other systems, and peripheral devices 3225, such ascache, other memory, data storage and/or electronic display adapters.The memory 3210, storage unit 3215, interface 3220 and peripheraldevices 3225 are in communication with the CPU 3205 through acommunication bus (solid lines), such as a motherboard. The storage unit3215 can be a data storage unit (or data repository) for storing data.The computer control system 3201 can be operatively coupled to acomputer network (“network”) 3230 with the aid of the communicationinterface 3220. The network 3230 can be the Internet, an internet and/orextranet, or an intranet and/or extranet that is in communication withthe Internet. The network 3230 in some cases is a telecommunicationand/or data network. The network 3230 can include one or more computerservers, which can enable distributed computing, such as cloudcomputing. The network 3230, in some cases with the aid of the computersystem 3201, can implement a peer-to-peer network, which may enabledevices coupled to the computer system 3201 to behave as a client or aserver.

The CPU 3205 can execute a sequence of machine-readable instructions,which can be embodied in a program or software. The instructions may bestored in a memory location, such as the memory 3210. The instructionscan be directed to the CPU 3205, which can subsequently program orotherwise configure the CPU 3205 to implement methods of the presentdisclosure. Examples of operations performed by the CPU 3205 can includefetch, decode, execute, and writeback.

The CPU 3205 can be part of a circuit, such as an integrated circuit.One or more other components of the system 3201 can be included in thecircuit. In some cases, the circuit is an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC).

The storage unit 3215 can store files, such as drivers, libraries andsaved programs. The storage unit 3215 can store user data, e.g., userpreferences and user programs. The computer system 3201 in some casescan include one or more additional data storage units that are externalto the computer system 3201, such as located on a remote server that isin communication with the computer system 3201 through an intranet orthe Internet.

The computer system 3201 can communicate with one or more remotecomputer systems through the network 3230. For instance, the computersystem 3201 can communicate with a remote computer system of a user(e.g., a user controlling the manufacture of a three-dimensionalobject). Examples of remote computer systems include personal computers(e.g., portable PC), slate or tablet PC's (e.g., Apple® iPad, Samsung®Galaxy Tab), telephones, Smart phones (e.g., Apple® iPhone,Android-enabled device, Blackberry®), or personal digital assistants.The user can access the computer system 3201 via the network 3230.

Methods as described herein can be implemented by way of machine (e.g.,computer processor) executable code stored on an electronic storagelocation of the computer system 3201, such as, for example, on thememory 3210 or electronic storage unit 3215. The machine executable ormachine readable code can be provided in the form of software. Duringuse, the code can be executed by the processor 3205. In some cases, thecode can be retrieved from the storage unit 3215 and stored on thememory 3210 for ready access by the processor 3205. In some situations,the electronic storage unit 3215 can be precluded, andmachine-executable instructions are stored on memory 3210.

The code can be pre-compiled and configured for use with a machinehaving a processer adapted to execute the code, or can be compiledduring runtime. The code can be supplied in a programming language thatcan be selected to enable the code to execute in a pre-compiled oras-compiled fashion.

Aspects of the systems and methods provided herein, such as the computersystem 3201, can be embodied in programming. Various aspects of thetechnology may be thought of as “products” or “articles of manufacture”typically in the form of machine (or processor) executable code and/orassociated data that is carried on or embodied in a type of machinereadable medium. Machine-executable code can be stored on an electronicstorage unit, such as memory (e.g., read-only memory, random-accessmemory, flash memory) or a hard disk. “Storage” type media can includeany or all of the tangible memory of the computers, processors or thelike, or associated modules thereof, such as various semiconductormemories, tape drives, disk drives and the like, which may providenon-transitory storage at any time for the software programming. All orportions of the software may at times be communicated through theInternet or various other telecommunication networks. Suchcommunications, for example, may enable loading of the software from onecomputer or processor into another, for example, from a managementserver or host computer into the computer platform of an applicationserver. Thus, another type of media that may bear the software elementsincludes optical, electrical and electromagnetic waves, such as usedacross physical interfaces between local devices, through wired andoptical landline networks and over various air-links. The physicalelements that carry such waves, such as wired or wireless links, opticallinks or the like, also may be considered as media bearing the software.As used herein, unless restricted to non-transitory, tangible “storage”media, terms such as computer or machine “readable medium” refer to anymedium that participates in providing instructions to a processor forexecution.

Hence, a machine readable medium, such as computer-executable code, maytake many forms, including but not limited to, a tangible storagemedium, a carrier wave medium or physical transmission medium.Non-volatile storage media include, for example, optical or magneticdisks, such as any of the storage devices in any computer(s) or thelike, such as may be used to implement the databases, etc. shown in thedrawings. Volatile storage media include dynamic memory, such as mainmemory of such a computer platform. Tangible transmission media includecoaxial cables; copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise a bus within a computer system. Carrier-wave transmission mediamay take the form of electric or electromagnetic signals, or acoustic orlight waves such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) andinfrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer-readablemedia therefore include for example: a floppy disk, a flexible disk,hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD orDVD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards paper tape, any otherphysical storage medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM andEPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wavetransporting data or instructions, cables or links transporting such acarrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer may readprogramming code and/or data. Many of these forms of computer readablemedia may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or moreinstructions to a processor for execution.

The computer system 3201 can include or be in communication with anelectronic display 3235 that comprises a user interface (UI) 3240 forproviding, for example, parameters for producing the three-dimensionalobject. Examples of UI's include, without limitation, a graphical userinterface (GUI) and web-based user interface.

EXAMPLES Example 1

In a 1 meter (m) by 1 m by 1 m build box container at atmospherictemperature and pressure, a layer of stainless steel alloy powdermaterial, spherical, 325 mesh, is deposited into a container, forming apowder bed. A stainless steel leveler is passed over the layer of powdermaterial to ensure a level surface of powder material. After leveling,the uncured powder material has a layered thickness of 100 micrometers.

Purchased polyurethane is applied to a first area of the first layer ofpowder material via an ultrasonic nebulizer. A laser is then passed overthe powder bed to heat and cure a first subsection of the first area.The subsection accounts for 50% of the first area. The subsection is inaccordance with a corresponding cross-section of the model design of thethree-dimensional object.

Another layer of powder material is then applied and leveled. A secondlayer of polyurethane is applied to a second area of the second layer ofpowder material. A laser is once again passed over the powder bed tocure a second subsection of the second area. The second subsectionaccounts for 50% of the second area. The second subsection is inaccordance with a corresponding second cross-section of the model designof the three-dimensional object.

Layers of powder material are subsequently applied, leveled, and cured,until the number of layers is equivalent to the number of cross-sectionsof the model design.

The build box is placed in an oven under an argon atmosphere at atemperature of 600° C. for 60 minutes. After cooling, the unboundedpowder material is then removed from the three-dimensional object viavacuum. The three-dimensional object is placed in another build box,filled with aluminum oxide grit, and placed in an oven at a temperatureof 1200° C. for 60 minutes.

After cooling, the three-dimensional object is removed from the buildbox as a final product.

Example 2

In a 0.5 m by 0.5 m by 0.5 m build box container at atmospherictemperature and pressure, a layer of bronze powder material, spherical,325 mesh, is deposited into a container, forming a powder bed. Astainless steel leveler is passed over the layer of powder material toensure a level surface of powder material. After leveling, the uncuredpowder material has a layered thickness of 0.5 mm.

Purchased nail polish is applied to a first area of the first layer ofpowder material via an compressor based spray. A laser is then passedover the powder bed to heat and cure a first subsection of the firstarea. The subsection accounts for 80% of the first area. The subsectionis in accordance with a corresponding cross-section of the model designof the three-dimensional object.

Another layer of powder material is then applied and leveled. A secondlayer of nail polish is applied to a second area of the second layer ofpowder material. A laser is once again passed over the powder bed tocure a second subsection of the second area. The second subsectionaccounts for 70% of the second area. The second subsection is inaccordance with a corresponding second cross-section of the model designof the three-dimensional object.

Layers of powder material are subsequently applied, leveled, and cured,until the number of layers is equivalent to the number of cross-sectionsof the model design.

The build box is placed in an oven at a temperature of 500° C. for 60minutes. After cooling, the unbounded powder material is then removedfrom the three-dimensional object via vacuum. The three-dimensionalobject is placed in another build box, filled with aluminum oxide grit,and bronze alloy, and placed in an oven at a temperature of 800° C. for60 minutes.

After cooling, the three-dimensional object is removed from the buildbox and polished.

Example 3

Depending on the geometric features of the desired object, the cutspeeds may be varied and optimized for speed and also for highresolution features.

FIGS. 24A-24C illustrate three different parts.

The tool path for the part of FIG. 24A has standard sized features thatare cut at relatively high linear cutting speeds. Cutting at high linearspeeds allows parts to be completed quicker.

Given the smaller features of FIG. 24B, as shown within the outline2405, the part is cut with a tool at relatively lower cutting speeds.

The part of FIG. 24C contains both standard sized features that are cutat a high cutting speed, and also smaller features, as shown within theoutline 2410, that is cut with a tool at relatively lower cuttingspeeds.

The part of FIG. 25 is made with a slow linear cut speed and a highrotational cut speed so that features such as 2505 are made preciselywhile minimizing production time.

Example 4

In a 0.5 m by 0.5 m by 0.5 m build box container at atmospherictemperature and pressure, a layer of powder material is deposited into acontainer, forming a powder bed.

Layers of powder material and binder are deposited onto the powder bed.The layers of powder material and binder are cut according to the modeldesign.

The desired 3D object is outlined in FIG. 13. Multiple slices form alayer, wherein the layers of the object are labeled numerically. Thelayers are cut by a single cutting pass, wherein Layers 1-8 have a layerthickness equivalent to the slice thickness. Layers 9-13 have athickness that is larger than the slice thicknesses for that region. ForLayers 9-13, a single cutting pass is made for each layer.

After the desired number of layers are made and cut, thethree-dimensional object is removed from the build box and polished.

Example 5

FIG. 31 illustrates multiple parts that may be formed with a methoddescribed herein.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatsuch embodiments are provided by way of example only. It is not intendedthat the invention be limited by the specific examples provided withinthe specification. While the invention has been described with referenceto the aforementioned specification, the descriptions and illustrationsof the embodiments herein are not meant to be construed in a limitingsense. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur tothose skilled in the art without departing from the invention.Furthermore, it shall be understood that all aspects of the inventionare not limited to the specific depictions, configurations or relativeproportions set forth herein which depend upon a variety of conditionsand variables. It should be understood that various alternatives to theembodiments of the invention described herein may be employed inpracticing the invention. It is therefore contemplated that theinvention shall also cover any such alternatives, modifications,variations or equivalents. It is intended that the following claimsdefine the scope of the invention and that methods and structures withinthe scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for forming a three-dimensional object,comprising: (a) providing a powder bed comprising powder material; (b)applying a first binding substance to a first area of a first layer ofpowder material of said powder bed; (c) depositing a second layer ofpowder material adjacent to said first layer; (d) applying a secondbinding substance to a second area of a second layer of powder materialof said powder bed; and (e) using at least one perimeter generator togenerate one or more perimeters of said first layer and said secondlayer of powder material, wherein said one or more perimeters of saidfirst layer and said second layer is in accordance with a model designof said three-dimensional object in computer memory, thereby generatingat least a portion of said three-dimensional object.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said one or more perimeters of said first layer andsaid second layer of powder material is generated in a single pass ofsaid cutter.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or moreperimeters of said first layer and said second layer is generated via amulti-axis machine tool, a Computer Numeric Control (CNC) spindle, acutting tool bit, or a blade.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising heating said first area of said first layer or said secondarea of said second layer.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said atleast one perimeter generator is a plurality of perimeter generators. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein in (e), said or more perimeters of saidfirst layer and said second layer are generated simultaneously.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein in (e), said or more perimeters of said firstlayer and/or said second layer deviates from said model design.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said first binding substance and/or saidsecond binding substance are applied in a manner such that there is (i)no pooling of said first binding substance and/or said second bindingsubstance in said powder bed or (ii) no physical disturbance ofindividual particles of said powder material.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising, subsequent to (e), heating said at least saidportion of said three-dimensional object.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein said heating is bulk heating of said at least said portion ofsaid three-dimensional object, which bulk heating comprises sinteringindividual particles of said powder material in said at least saidportion of said three-dimensional object.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein said first binding substance and/or said second bindingsubstance is applied via an inkjet head, an atomizing sprayer, anultrasonic sprayer, or a nebulizer.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid powder material comprises particles of 0.5 micrometers to 50micrometers in size.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein said first areaor said second area is an entirety of an exposed area of said powderbed.